WeeklyWatch – SpaceX eclipse AI earnings

27^th May 2026

Stock Take

Good but not good enough for Nvidia

Markets experienced a busy week last week! Over in the US, there were further market gains, and the S&P enjoyed another rise for the eighth week in a row. By style, small-cap and value outperformed growth and large-cap.

The chip maker and world’s most valuable company, Nvidia, revealed more impressive results for the first quarter. In comparison to 2025, sales increased by 85% and net earnings increased threefold. Both sets of results exceeded expectations and confirmed that demand for data centres and AI remains high.

Nvidia’s earnings results have historically dominated headlines and helped shape investor sentiment; however, the last few quarters have revealed how challenging it’s been for the company to wow investors in order to get a positive share price reaction. Although the company’s share price eased following the results, it remains around 20% higher year-to-date. In the long term, some analysts remain focused on Nvidia’s significantly high (70%+) gross profit margins. The fast roll-out of lower-cost AI chips by the company’s competitors may not be a direct threat to Nvidia. What is likely, though, is investors contemplating how long the company will be able to maintain such high margins.

SpaceX IPO – as big as the stars

It’s been confirmed that Elon Musk – the world’s richest man – will list his satellite and rocket company, SpaceX, which contributed to the fairly muted reaction to Nvidia’s earnings. This week’s ‘In the Picture’ reveals that SpaceX’s listing on 12^th June is expected to be the biggest in history and more than twice as large as the current largest, oil major Saudi Aramco.

Once listed on the tech-focused Nasdaq index, Musk’s SpaceX is expected to become one of the most valuable companies in the world. Estimated market capitalisations are $1.75 trillion to $2 trillion. Despite these predictions, SpaceX’s recent earnings profile has been mixed, and the company overall is currently unprofitable – 2025 revenues of $18.7 billion were joined by losses of $4.9 billion.

SpaceX’s goal is to “make life multiplanetary, to understand the true nature of the universe and to extend the light of consciousness to the stars”. However, the company’s revenues are underpinned by their internet-service provider business, Starlink. Nearly 10,000 satellites make Starlink the only profitable part of the business. The company’s prospectus identifies a total market size of $29 trillion, with growth initially underpinned by demand for Starlink satellites, which are launched by SpaceX rockets.

The public wait for Anthropic and ChatGPT

The ongoing positive sentiment surrounding AI is being boosted by AI coding giant Anthropic’s news that second quarter revenues will more than double to $10.9 billion in comparison to the previous quarter.

Claude’s operator says this will support in generating an operating profit by mid-year, surpassing expectations. Although they’re not a public company, Anthropic showcased the latest details in their last funding round, leading many to suspect that the company is preparing to go public.

Elsewhere, Anthropic’s rival OpenAI (operators of ChatGPT) may be lining up to list in September. Three high-profile tech and AI-related companies listing this year will reinforce 2026 as the biggest ever for IPO funds raised.

Easing pressure on UK gilts

It was a better week for UK government bonds (gilts). ‘Bad news is good’ was partly behind it, as the domestic unemployment rate rose to 5% in March from 4.9% in the previous month. It’s a somewhat unsurprising result considering the effects of the energy shock and low business confidence. Although it wasn’t welcome news for the economy, it served as better news for gilts. Market expectations for future UK interest rate hikes have eased, and this in turn has seen gilt yields fall (and prices rise).

Contender for Labour Party leader and prime minister, Andy Burnham, also brought reassurance to investors this week. If he wins the leadership challenge, he said that he will commit to the existing government’s fiscal rules. The price of 10-year gilts consequently saw a recovery. Only a week before, they were trading above 5% (levels unseen since 2008) and finished the week at 4.9%.

Market indicators are now leaning towards the notion that the Bank of England will reduce the expected two to three interest rate hikes to only two 0.25% rate hikes in 2026.

Are energy markets in limbo?

Crude oil prices finished the week slightly lower – reflective of an easing in some supply dislocations. Despite this, the Chief Economist at St. James’s Place, Hetal Mehta, says that it will still be six to eight weeks before there needs to be a resumption of tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz. She added that the airlines that said there would be severe jet fuel shortages are now re-evaluating and think supplies will be sufficient over the summer season.

“A lot of energy experts seem to have been surprised we haven’t seen more dramatic price moves, given how long the Strait of Hormuz has been closed.”

A significant reason for this is that considerable commercial reserves have been put to use, helping to mitigate the worst of the shocks.

Wealth Check

15 million not saving enough for retirement according to Pensions Commission

Across the UK, the Pensions Commission has voiced that 15 million aren’t saving enough for retirement.

An interim report was published last week and the government-backed commission drew attention to the challenges facing the current system. It was determined that low and middle earners, self-employed people and women are the groups most at risk of inadequate pensions due to not saving enough for their retirement.

Further details revealed that nearly 18 million people – equivalent to 45% of working age adults – aren’t saving into a pension, and only 4% of the self-employed are saving for retirement.

The final report will be published in early 2027.

St. James’s Place recently published their Financial Health Report 2026 and revealed that the cost-of-living pressures have resulted in a drop in financial resilience in many UK households.

The survey, conducted by Opinium among 6,000 adults, found fewer people now describe themselves as financially comfortable, compared to 12 months ago (37% in 2026 compared to 42% in 2025).¹

Money returned to bereaved families by NS&I

£367 million from National Savings and Investments (NS&I) will start being returned to bereaved families who were impacted by the missing savings scandal.

It was revealed in March that the state-backed bank was having difficulty tracing accounts that belonged to deceased customers.

The scandal saw the dismissal of NS&I’s then-chief executive, with the new CEO saying that the search process used to handle bereavement claims is now fixed.

Source:

¹Opinium survey of 6,000 UK adults between 17^th March and 9^th April 2026, on behalf of St. James’s Place. Quotas and post-weighting were applied to the sample to make the dataset representative of the UK adult population.

In the Picture 

It’s expected that SpaceX’s upcoming IPO will be the largest in history. Even though there’s been a mixed recent earnings profile and they’re currently unprofitable, the company will probably become one of the world’s most valuable companies.

The information contained is correct as at the date of the article. The information contained does not constitute investment advice and is not intended to state, indicate or imply that current or past results are indicative of future results or expectations. Where the opinions of third parties are offered, these may not necessarily reflect those of St. James’s Place.

Source: London Stock Exchange Group plc and its group undertakings (collectively, the “LSE Group”). ©LSE Group 2026. FTSE Russell is a trading name of certain of the LSE Group companies.

“FTSE Russell®” is a trademark of the relevant LSE Group companies and is used by any other LSE Group company under license. All rights in the FTSE Russell indexes or data vest in the relevant LSE Group company which owns the index or the data. Neither LSE Group nor its licensors accept any liability for any errors or omissions in the indexes or data and no party may rely on any indexes or data contained in this communication. No further distribution of data from the LSE Group is permitted without the relevant LSE Group company’s express written consent. The LSE Group does not promote, sponsor or endorse the content of this communication.

© S&P Dow Jones LLC 2026; all rights reserved.

Source: MSCI. Certain information contained herein, including without limitation text, data, graphs, charts (collectively, the “Information”) is the copyrighted, trade secret, trademarked and/or proprietary property of MSCI Inc. or its subsidiaries (collectively, “MSCI”), or MSCI’s licensors, direct or indirect suppliers or any third party involved in making or compiling any Information (collectively, with MSCI, the “Information Providers”), is provided for informational purposes only, and may not be modified, reverse-engineered, reproduced, resold or redisseminated in whole or in part, without prior written consent.

Source: Bloomberg. BLOOMBERG®” and the Bloomberg indices listed herein (the “Indices”) are service marks of Bloomberg Finance L.P. and its affiliates, including Bloomberg Index Services Limited (“BISL”), the administrator of the Indices (collectively, “Bloomberg”) and have been licensed for use for certain purposes by the distributor hereof (the “Licensee”). Bloomberg is not affiliated with Licensee, and Bloomberg does not approve, endorse, review, or recommend the financial products named herein (the “Products”). Bloomberg does not guarantee the timeliness, accuracy, or completeness of any data or information relating to the Products.

SJP Approved 26/05/2026