WASHINGTON, D.C. ― Less than a month after going public on Wall Street, Elon Musk’s SpaceX joined the Nasdaq 100 on Tuesday, a move that quietly dropped the company’s stock into the retirement accounts of ordinary Americans.
The Nasdaq, the electronic stock exchange in New York where SpaceX has been listed since June 12, recently changed its rules ahead of the historic public offering.Giant companies can now join the Nasdaq 100 index after just 15 trading days, instead of the three months it used to take, making SpaceX the fastest major index addition after an initial public offering (IPO) in history.Roughly $1.4 trillion sits in funds that are designed to automatically mirror whatever’s in the index, and these make up a share of most 401(k) retirement plans, a tax-advantaged investment account that is a pillar of individual savings in the United States.“Every single one of those funds had to buy SPCX. Not because a portfolio manager made a judgment call... [but] because the index rule book said so,” said Mark Malek of Siebert Financial.Unlike Nasdaq, the S&P 500, which is used by an estimated $13 trillion in passive funds alone, did not change its inclusion rules, meaning SpaceX will have to wait longer before entering that even larger pool of funds.Musk’s company is now a three-in-one giant, making SpaceX rockets, the Starlink satellite network and the xAI artificial intelligence lab that also includes the X platform, formerly Twitter.The IPO shattered records, raising $75 billion and pushing Musk’s personal fortune past $1 trillion ― a first for any individual.Since then, the ride has been bumpy, with shares trading around $151 on Tuesday, down about 5 percent on the day but still above the $135 price set at the IPO.
