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Nukes And Quantum Stocks Fly
Today’s Rip: quantum rumors, nuclear promises, Trump and Xi talk taxes, and more. 📰
Kevin Travers
September 19, 2025 • Reading Time: 13 minutes
In partnership with
CLOSING BELL
Nukes And Quantum Stocks Fly
The market climbed to end the week, hitting all-time highs, though the small-cap Russell 2000 fell after setting records Thursday that were last set in 2021.
It was the third busiest day in U.S. markets since 2008, according to Bloomberg data. Donald Trump and President Xi Jinping talked for two hours Friday morning about trade and TikTok. Trump said in a Truth Social post that they were making progress, and he planned to meet Xi in person at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Korea next month.
The House passed a stopgap bill to fund the government until late November, but the bill lacked the votes to pass in the Senate, and the Democrats failed to produce another version that could pass. Lawmakers have two working days before the final deadline to pass a budget when they return. 👀
Today’s Rip: quantum rumors, nuclear promises, Trump and Xi talk taxes, and more. 📰
6 of 11 sectors closed green, with tech $XLK ( ▲ 1.01% ) leading and xle $XLE ( ▼ 1.33% ) lagging.
TRENDING STOCKS
Nuclear And Quantum React To SuperPower Trade Talks 💣️
While Trump and Xi talk international strategy, the rumor mill is pumping the bags of two startup tech industries, as investors are eager to catch the next AI boom before it happens.
Nuclear stocks, especially small caps working on impossibly small reactors, flew alongside quantum computing stocks on Friday.
The U.S.-UK talks this week included a major agreement to bring out the nukes in a flagship research program between the U.S. Department of Energy, NSF, and UK Dept. of Science, and UK Research and Innovation.
Oklo $OKLO ( ▲ 28.83% ) NuScale Power $SMR ( ▲ 22.69% ) and Nano $NNE ( ▲ 21.2% ) climbed on the news.
OKLO has been on a tear all year
Quantum stocks were not explicitly mentioned, but reports from Cyberscoop found the Trump admin was weighing executive orders to 'accelerate’ the construction of defensive tech against quantum cyber attacks. Whatever that means, if it is anything like executive maneuvering around AI capability, it could indicate huge inflows of government and corporate investment in quantum tech.
$RGTI ( ▲ 15.28% ) flew, despite unnamed sources, alongside $QMCO ( ▲ 40.59% ) $QUBT ( ▲ 26.81% ) and $QBTS ( ▲ 11.91% ). The hype followed news that IonQ and Honeywell were partnering with the U.S. Department of Energy to boost use cases. $IONQ ( ▲ 5.39% ) also announced it was buying government contractor Vector Atomic on Wednesday.
Nuclear stocks and Quantum stocks were hitting the top of the trending list on Stocktwits on Friday.
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MACRO NEWS
Trump And Xi Making Progress On Trade 😃
Both the U.S. and Chinese counterparts said Friday talks between the leaders of the world’s largest economies were positive, to the glee of investors hoping for smooth sailing.
The talks gravitated around the TikTok buyout framework, which would see U.S. companies buy up 80% of the stateside assets for the scrolling video giant. Trump said it would be investor-owned and “all-American.”
$ORCL ( ▲ 4.06% ) shares, on a high since its quarterly report posted a huge sales book win, continued to climb as a lead public company investor in the TikTok deal. A WSJ report late Friday found that Uncle Sam expects a multibillion-dollar fee from investors for brokering the buyout.
The findings support an earlier Trumpism Thursday, where the president said “The United States is getting a tremendous fee-plus—I call it a fee-plus—just for making the deal, and I don’t want to throw that out the window.”
The two powerhouses also talked trade. The U.S. still has a 20% tariff on Chinese imports meant to encourage China to stop sending the ingredients that make fentanyl.
China warned that any movement to undermine trade talks would be met harshly. Trump also posted to Truth Social to make clear his aim to end the war in Ukraine, using the levers of international tariffs to put pressure on Russian trading partners like China and India.
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POPS & DROPS
Top Stocktwits News Stories 🗞️
QuantumScape rose 10.6% to $13.42 after Panasonic battery pivot.
CoreWeave climbed 2.9% to $124.86 after Loop Capital’s Buy rating.
22nd Century Group jumped 11.9% to $1.97 after Series A offering.
Apple dipped 0.2% to $778.38 after Watch health pitch.
Pattern closed at $13.18, down 5.9% from IPO price.
Darden Restaurants fell 4.1% to $184.75 after price target cuts.
Intel dropped 3.2% to $29.58 despite Nvidia’s $5B stake.
MetaMask held steady at $1.00, unchanged as a stablecoin.
SoFi rose 5.0% to $29.51 after Mizuho raised target.
Paramount Skydance fell 5.7% to $17.53 despite bid rumors.
Don’t miss a story! Follow @StocktwitsNews for a live feed in real time. ✍️
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