NEW YORK, December 31, 2025, 15:39 ET — Regular session
- Salesforce shares fell about 0.3% in late-afternoon trading.
- Software stocks lagged as investors weighed rates and thin year-end liquidity.
- Focus turns to January macro data and Salesforce’s next earnings window in late February.
Salesforce Inc shares edged lower on Wednesday, down about 0.3% at $265.06 in late-afternoon trading. The stock traded between $264.44 and $266.12, with roughly 1.7 million shares changing hands.
The move tracked a softer tape for software names into the final session of 2025. The iShares Expanded Tech-Software Sector ETF (IGV) was down about 1.1%, while the Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ), a proxy for the Nasdaq-100, fell about 0.7%.
That matters now because cloud software valuations tend to swing with expectations for U.S. interest rates, and year-end trading can amplify sector moves as funds rebalance. A market update from Charles Schwab pointed to “thin holiday trading” and a light data calendar heading into the New Year’s Day market closure. 1
Salesforce’s decline came alongside other large enterprise software names. ServiceNow was down about 0.7%, Microsoft slipped about 0.8%, and Oracle fell nearly 1% in the same window.
Macro data also kept rate-sensitive stocks on watch. U.S. weekly jobless claims fell to 199,000 for the week ended Dec. 27, while continuing claims eased to 1.866 million, Reuters reported. The Labor Department is due to publish December employment figures on Jan. 9. 2
Investors are still digesting Federal Reserve minutes released Tuesday that showed a divided debate around December’s quarter-point rate cut, Reuters reported. The minutes underscored uncertainty about the pace of additional easing as officials weigh inflation risks against a labor market that has cooled. 3
Funding markets flashed another year-end datapoint. Financial firms borrowed a record $74.6 billion from the New York Fed’s standing repo facility — short-term loans secured by collateral — as they managed year-end cash needs, Reuters said. Analysts cited in the report said the spike did not signal broader stress. 4
For Salesforce, the next big test remains whether its AI push translates into steadier subscription growth and backlog. The company’s latest quarterly results, released Dec. 3, included a higher full-year revenue forecast and a larger contracted backlog, the company said. 5
Salesforce said it raised fiscal 2026 revenue guidance to $41.45 billion to $41.55 billion and reported remaining performance obligation (RPO) — contracted revenue not yet recognized — of $59.5 billion. Marc Benioff, Salesforce’s CEO, said, “Our Agentforce and Data 360 products are the momentum drivers, hitting nearly $1.4 billion in ARR,” using annual recurring revenue (ARR) as a run-rate measure of subscription sales. 5
Traders will also be looking for updates on how quickly new AI “agents” — software designed to carry out tasks such as drafting outreach or logging customer activity — move from pilots to scaled deployments. Margins and cash flow remain key swing factors as investors weigh growth against spending.
The next earnings date has not been formally announced. MarketBeat’s earnings calendar estimates Salesforce will report on Feb. 25, 2026, based on past reporting schedules. 6
Near-term price action is likely to be driven by the first wave of January economic data and any shift in rate expectations. For Salesforce, investors will be watching whether the stock stabilizes after year-end rebalancing and whether AI-related bookings and backlog remain on an upward track into the next results.
