Headlines · 2026-11-05

Goldman Sachs and Apollo Global Management are approaching Wall Street investors to sell portions of a roughly $40 billion financing package for SpaceX's AI chips, Bloomberg reported. Some potential buyers have been asked to subscribe up to $500 million ahead of the formal syndication process, according to the report. Reuters said it could not independently verify the report; Goldman declined to comment, while Apollo and SpaceX did not immediately respond.

SpaceX disclosed the deal in October: a special purpose vehicle managed by Apollo-backed Atlas SP will buy Nvidia chips and issue debt to lenders, with SpaceX leasing the equipment under a five-year agreement. The debt includes an $8.3 billion senior secured loan slated for bank syndication and multiple bond tranches for asset managers, with Goldman leading the loan and Apollo the key bond investor; PIMCO is also participating. Together with $7 billion in lease prepayments, the financing will fund roughly $47.3 billion of Nvidia Rubin chips expected to be delivered in the first half of 2027.

The marketing push comes as appetite for AI-linked deals is being tested. SpaceX and Tesla shares fell after Democrats won the midterm elections; SpaceX's data center is in Memphis, Tennessee, with additional sites under development in Mississippi. Presentation materials say SpaceX's obligation to pay rent is absolute and cannot be paused by invoking force majeure.

The parties involved include SpaceX (SPCX), Goldman Sachs (GS), Apollo (APO) and chip supplier Nvidia (NVDA).

US stocks closed sharply higher on Wednesday after Democrats won control of both the Senate and House of Representatives. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 3.04% to 53,362.57, the S&P 500 gained 1.58% to 7,688.73 and the Nasdaq Composite added 1.44% to 25,736.51.

The rally was split within technology. Microsoft rose 6.68%, Amazon 6.12% and Alphabet 3.18% on expectations that a slower AI infrastructure buildout would ease cash demands on hyperscalers. Data center operators moved the other way: Hut 8 fell 23%, IREN 11% and Core Scientific 10%, while the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index dropped 3.13% to a six-month low, with Nvidia down 3.17% and Micron down 7.00%.

Democratic gains in data center-heavy states including Texas, Ohio and Georgia drove the divergence. Texas governor-elect Gina Hinojosa campaigned on a moratorium on new data center approvals; the state accounts for roughly 25% of US data center capacity expected to be operating by 2030, putting about 13 gigawatts of projects at risk.

Elon Musk-linked shares also fell, with Tesla down 3.34% and SpaceX down 3.81%, erasing more than $120 billion in combined market value. Musk spent nearly half a billion dollars backing Republican candidates, and Texas turning blue adds state-level regulatory risk to his companies.

Vice President JD Vance said in a social media post Wednesday that "the reason we lost is the war," adding that the president himself had said so the night before. Crude fell sharply after the remarks: WTI settled at $88.12 a barrel, down 8.3%, and Brent settled at $94.62, down 8.7%, both the lowest closes since Aug. 31.

The trigger was Democrats' sweep of the House and Senate in Tuesday's midterms. Incoming Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer has vowed to push to end the Iran war, and analysts say a Democratic Congress could constrain military spending in the Middle East, raising pressure on Trump to seek an exit. Trump told the Financial Times on Tuesday there were no immediate plans to strike Iran, while Qatar stepped up mediation efforts.

The selloff spread across energy: the Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLE) fell more than 5%, refiners Marathon Petroleum (MPC) and Valero (VLO) dropped roughly 8% to 10%, ExxonMobil (XOM) fell 4.6% and ConocoPhillips (COP) 5.1%. Gasoline futures headed for their lowest close since March 10, though US diesel stockpiles remain at low levels, leaving supply yet to catch up with the peace trade.

Views on what comes next diverge. Rapidan Energy's Bob McNally said traders are betting the administration will quit the war: "We're not buying it. We think escalation is more likely." Raymond James analyst Pavel Molchanov said a durable off-ramp is needed for prices to move sustainably lower. Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei said US hostility would persist regardless of which party holds power, and a senior Iranian official told Reuters the two sides remain far from a deal.