Stock Market Today, July 27: D-Wave Surges on Nasdaq Debut and Expanded AT&T Deal

D-Wave Quantum (QBTS +20.20%), a quantum computing systems and services provider, closed at $19.51, up 20.36%. An expanded agreement with AT&T (T +1.20%) and the stock’s Nasdaq listing debut drove the move. Investors will now be watching the next earnings report.
Trading volume reached 47.2 million shares, coming in about 54% above its three-month average of 30.6 million shares. D-Wave Quantum IPO’d in 2020 and has grown 92% since going public.

How the markets moved today

S&P 500 (^GSPC +0.02%) rose 0.02% to 7,413, while the Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC -0.18%) fell 0.18% to 24,932. In quantum computing systems, software, and services, IonQ (IONQ +9.38%) closed at $35.91, up 9.35%, and Rigetti Computing (RGTI +10.53%) closed at $15.64, up 10.53%, as investors reacted to D-Wave’s expanded AT&T deal and Nasdaq listing.

What this means for investors

D-Wave transferred its listing from the New York Stock Exchange to Nasdaq, with trading beginning today. While that could add a market-related tailwind from publicity and potentially improved liquidity, it isn’t the main reason for the stock’s 20% move.

The stock jumped after it announced that AT&T has agreed to expand its use of D-Wave’s quantum computing technology, with the intention of employing it to tackle complex optimization problems in its network operations.

The news reinforced that there is demand for commercial applications of its quantum technology, helping investors gain confidence that D-Wave and its quantum computing peers will have paths to successfully monetize it.