Wall Street wobbles as SpaceX shares launch, oil slides on Mideast deal hopes

AFP | London

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Wall Street opened mixed yesterday, when SpaceX was set to begin trading following world's largest initial public offering, while oil prices slid on hopes of an agreement to end the Middle East war.

SpaceX priced more than 555 million shares at $135 each in a filing with the US markets regulator on Thursday, placing the company in the top 10 of Wall Street's biggest firms with a valuation of just under $1.8 trillion -- ahead of Tesla, Facebook-owner Meta and Walmart.

Briefing.com analyst Patrick O'Hare said before markets opened that the SpaceX shares were expected to soar from the IPO price when they begin trading later in the morning, because the offer was heavily oversubscribed.

"But just how high it goes is the great unknown, along with how the performance of the stock might direct things for the broader market," he said.

The Nasdaq, on which SpaceX shares are listed, dipped at the start of trading, while the Dow and S&P 500 edged higher.

The drop in oil prices to under $90 per barrel also helped boost sentiment in equities markets.

US President Donald Trump claimed on Thursday an agreement to end the Middle East war could be signed in days and cancelled threatened strikes, although Iran's position remained unclear. Iran's foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said Tehran "had not reached a final conclusion on the agreement".

The country's state media said that under a draft agreement with the United States, Tehran would not give up control over the strategic Strait of Hormuz. Europe's main markets gained more than 1% in afternoon trading, following big gains in Asia. "Investors were in a buoyant mood as hopes of a peace deal between the US and Iran were revived, having seemingly dropped off the table earlier in the week," said Dan Coatsworth, head of markets at AJ Bell.