Stock Market Today: Rigetti Computing Extends Rally After Announced $5.8M Air Force Contract

Rigetti Computing Inc (NASDAQ: RGTI) closed at $31.46, up 10.89%. Trading volume reached about 101.9 million shares, more than twice its three-month average. The stock reached $32.40, a new 52-week high, intraday.

Markets softened. The S&P 500 (SNPINDEX: ^GSPC) fell 36.83 points, or 0.55%, to 6,656.92, while the Nasdaq Composite (NASDAQINDEX: ^IXIC) dropped 215.50 points, or 0.95%, to 22,573.47.

Among quantum peers, D-Wave Quantum Inc (NYSE: QBTS) rose 7.21% to $27.52, and IONQ Inc (NYSE: IONQ) gained 4.45% to $75.14, with the group benefiting from rising interest in government-related quantum research.

Rigetti has been climbing since Sept. 18, when it announced a three-year, $5.8 million contract with the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory to develop quantum networking in partnership with QphoX. The award builds on Rigetti's track record in federally backed quantum programs. For investors, the continued rally underscores how government contracts can validate the company's technology and provide funding support, though long-term value will depend on translating such deals into recurring revenue and broader commercial adoption.

Market data sourced from Google Finance and Yahoo! Finance on Tuesday, Sept. 23, 2025.

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Daily Stock News has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. This article was generated with GPT-5, OpenAI's large-scale language generation model and has been reviewed by The Motley Fool's AI quality control systems. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.