Daily brief

Every weekday morning an AI co-pilot reads the overnight tape across the book, cross-references the catalyst calendar, and writes what moved and why.

• 2026-07-28Space traded broadly higher — IonQ led on the quantum rally spilling into optical terminals, launch and propulsion names firmed, and only the timing-silicon layer fell with the chip rout.
• 2026-07-27Pure-play space was routed ahead of SpaceX's Starship test while defense and germanium materials held; Rocket Lab fell 9% below its Iridium-collar line.
• 2026-07-24The defense-earnings updraft lifted the RF-and-radhard-electronics chokepoint while STMicro's guidance cut dragged the space-semiconductor names.
• 2026-07-23CACI's counter-drone award pulled the defense primes up 6% while speculative NewSpace sold off and Frequency Electronics gave back 9% — capital rotated from pure-play space into defense-anchored names.
• 2026-07-22The space trade turned risk-on again — Frequency Electronics led with a 20% momentum move and AST SpaceMobile jumped 10% on a $984M raise and a new factory — while the defense primes and Astroscale's Tokyo line were the sector's laggards.
• 2026-07-21Space small-caps sold off in a risk-off tape — Spire Global slid 9.7% on its financing overhang — while only the cislunar and launch-adjacent names found scattered bids ahead of a dense earnings and launch calendar.
• 2026-07-20The timing-and-PNT chokepoint led the tape as Frequency Electronics jumped 17% on a record backlog, with the observation and direct-to-device tier bid against a risk-off market.
• 2026-07-17AST SpaceMobile fell 17% on a $1B convertible raise and led a broad rout of the public space complex — only the private-exposure fund stayed green.
• 2026-07-16An index-flow bid lifted Karman 6.4% while the high-beta EO and comms smallcaps repriced — Satellogic the softest at -8.1%, and SpaceX slipped below its IPO price for the first time.
• 2026-07-15Timing and in-space infrastructure led — Frequency Electronics ran 8% into its earnings call and MDA Space rebounded 7.7% as an $819M raise closed, while the private-space wrappers compressed.
• 2026-07-14Government-backlog ISR held while speculative launch and direct-to-device cratered — BlackSky bucked a risk-off tape up 4.2% as Karman, AST SpaceMobile and Telesat fell 8–10%.
• 2026-07-13Space-data and launch small-caps de-rated on July 10 — Spire −8.4%, Firefly and Intuitive Machines down hard — while Viasat bucked the tape +4.5% on the spectrum-and-ground chokepoint.
• 2026-07-10The listed space complex diverged lower on July 9 — MDA −8.5% on a dilutive raise, satellite operators red — even as the private-tech wrappers VCX and DXYZ ripped double digits.
• 2026-07-09Space's July 8 rebound was selective — rad-hard silicon and in-space names recovered, Redwire +3.6% and SiTime +3.4% — while Frequency Electronics fell 5.9% into today's earnings.
• 2026-07-08The high-beta space complex sold off hard on July 7 — launch, imagery and in-space names down 6-10% — while only SES's European line (+2.9%) and Northrop stayed green.
• 2026-07-07Space pure-plays sold off led by Rocket Lab −7.3% on its Iridium-deal dilution, while the only bid was diversified rad-hard silicon — STMicroelectronics +4.4%.
• 2026-07-03The defense-prime re-rating lifted space names (CACI +7.7%, Northrop +5.6%), while the precision-timing silicon chokepoint (SiTime −14.5%) was gutted in the second-day chip rout.
• 2026-07-02Launch-and-propulsion hardware caught the defense rotation — Karman +10.0% the leader — while the July-1 tech selloff hit the newly-public high-beta names, SpaceX −7.8% the laggard.
• 2026-07-01Viasat jumped 17.1% on Space Force protected-SATCOM wins and doubled analyst targets, leading an optical-terminal and ground-segment rally — Telesat +10%, MDA +8.4%, SES +12.9% — as the SpaceX-proxy fund lagged.
• 2026-06-30Rocket Lab's ~$54-a-share takeover of Iridium detonated a sector-wide melt-up — IRDM +25.4%, Viasat +23.8%, Satellogic +22.1%, AST SpaceMobile +21.4% — as the satellite-and-launch complex re-rated en masse.
• 2026-06-29Space operators bucked Friday's chip rout — AST SpaceMobile +8.9% on a successful BlueBird launch while rad-hard supplier Texas Instruments fell 8.5% with the semiconductors.
• 2026-06-26The space basket cratered — Comtech led the wreckage and the satellite names sold off hard — with rad-hard silicon the only green corner, riding the chip rally rather than any space catalyst.
• 2026-06-25The listed space complex got crushed in the SpaceX-IPO rotation and risk-off tape, with SES's US line −12% and Rocket Lab −10%, while space-cell maker 5N Plus held green.
• 2026-06-23SpaceX slid 16.4% toward its IPO price on a planned $20B debut bond, leading a broad space-growth selloff that only timing-chip SiTime escaped.
• 2026-06-19Space split Thursday — rad-hard and timing silicon rallied with the chip tape while the space-defense primes and Comtech fell on rotation and restructuring.
• 2026-06-18Redwire leads on a stack of defense and space contract wins while Comtech extends its post-earnings collapse and a freshly listed SpaceX takes its first hit.
• 2026-06-17Comtech's Gilat deal confirms the ground-segment restructuring thesis while the Fundrise Innovation Fund's SpaceX-premium evaporation accelerates.
• 2026-06-15SpaceX's $75B record debut siphoned capital from every small-cap launch proxy; Comtech's pre-earnings run was the only sector winner.