Shares of Planet Labs PBC (PL) are climbing like a rocket on Thursday. The stock is participating in a massive sector-wide rally, and it's not hard to see why. When the biggest private space company in the world starts making IPO noises, everyone in the neighborhood gets a little excited.

SpaceX IPO Buzz Lifts Sector Sentiment

The move is being fueled by reports that SpaceX has confidentially filed for an initial public offering. The potential debut, possibly in June, is rumored to target a valuation north of $1.75 trillion. If that happens, it wouldn't just be a big deal—it would be the largest IPO on record. That kind of event sparks expectations of fresh capital flowing into the space economy and gets investors looking at every company with a connection to the final frontier.

M&A Chatter Adds Momentum

But wait, there's more. Additional upside is coming from deal speculation surrounding Globalstar Inc. (GSAT), which is reportedly in acquisition talks with Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN), according to market data. When a tech giant like Amazon starts sniffing around satellite communications, it's a signal that the space business is getting very serious, very fast. The headlines are lifting space-linked names broadly, with sentiment also getting a boost from the ongoing progress of NASA's Artemis II mission.

Short Interest Eases

For the skeptics out there, the data shows they might be backing off a bit. Recent figures indicate short interest in Planet Labs has decreased. Shorted shares fell from 37.48 million to 35.18 million. Currently, 12.44% of the company's float remains short. Based on average trading volume, it would take about 3.57 days for those short sellers to cover their positions if they needed to exit in a hurry.

Planet Labs Technical Analysis

Let's look at the charts. At $35.77, the stock is trading 24.8% above its 20-day simple moving average (SMA), which is the stock's average price over the last 20 sessions. It's also a whopping 64.1% above its 100-day SMA. That's what you call a strong trend.

The moving average structure stays constructive, with the 20-day SMA above the 50-day SMA, and the 50-day SMA above the 200-day SMA. That's the classic bullish alignment. That said, the moving average convergence divergence (MACD), a trend and momentum measure, is flashing a slightly bearish signal with the MACD at 1.5791 sitting just below the 1.6557 signal line. It's a small caution flag in an otherwise clear blue sky.

The stock is sitting just below its 52-week high of $37.05. That's after a truly astronomical 882.68% run over the past 12 months. When a stock goes up nearly tenfold in a year, you know you're in a special kind of market.

• Key Resistance: $37.00
• Key Support: $28.50

Planet Labs shares were up 16.67% at $35.83 at the time of publication on Thursday, according to market data. So if you're wondering what's going on with Planet Labs stock, the answer is simple: it's going up, and it's taking a lot of the space sector with it.