Planet Labs (PL) shares moved lower by about 4% on Thursday as aerospace and defense stocks traded down amid spillover from a report that SpaceX is looking to issue $40 billion in new debt to buy Nvidia chips for its data centers, according to market data.
The stock was down 3.99% at $17.04 in Thursday trading, while NASDAQ futures are down 0.60%.
Capital is shifting away from smaller, publicly traded space companies following reports of a massive $40 billion financing round by Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SPCX), as investors rotate funds into larger industry players.
Rising borrowing costs are adding pressure, with the 10-year U.S. Treasury yield spiking as high as 5.35%, its highest level since 2002, according to Trading Economics. High-growth equities are disproportionately affected by higher yields.
SpaceX Credit Risk Hits Record High
The Financial Times reported on Wednesday that SpaceX's five-year credit-default-swap (CDS) spread—a financial indicator measuring default insurance costs—rose to 194 basis points on Wednesday from approximately 110 basis points in June. Investors pay about $19,400 annually to insure $1 million of SpaceX debt.
The yield spread on SpaceX's 2056 bond widened to 2.36 percentage points over U.S. Treasuries, up from 1.75 percentage points in June.
SpaceX is seeking $10 billion in bank loans and $30 billion in investment-grade debt, with Apollo Global Management expected to lead the financing and Pimco in lending talks.
The proposed financing, which could close in 2027, will fund Nvidia Corp. (NVDA) chips for artificial intelligence infrastructure.
Technical Analysis
From a trend perspective, PL is still in a longer-term downtrend: it's trading 12% below its 50-day SMA ($19.64) and 36.8% below its 200-day SMA ($27.35). The "death cross" that formed in August (50-day SMA below the 200-day SMA) reinforces that rallies have recently been more prone to selling than follow-through.
Near-term, the stock is trying to stabilize, sitting 2.5% above its 20-day SMA ($16.85) but slightly below its 20-day EMA ($17.53), which often acts like a quicker "line in the sand" for short-term momentum. That mix typically reads as a choppy, range-like tape where buyers are active, but conviction is still limited.
- Key Resistance: $18
- Key Support: $16
PL Price Action: Planet Labs shares were down 3.52% at $17.12 at the time of publication on Thursday, according to market data.
