New York, January 9, 2026, 11:00 (EST) — Regular session
- Oracle shares rose about 2.9% in morning trade, rebounding after a choppy start to 2026.
- A softer U.S. jobs report revived rate-cut bets, lifting rate-sensitive tech stocks.
- Investors are watching Oracle’s AI data-center spending and its next quarterly update in mid-March.
Oracle Corp shares rose nearly 3% on Friday, tracking a broader bounce in U.S. equities after a softer-than-expected jobs report eased pressure on rate-cut expectations. The stock was up 2.9% at $195.07, after trading as low as $188.91 earlier in the session.
Wall Street’s main indexes edged higher after the Labor Department reported a 50,000 increase in December nonfarm payrolls, below economists’ 60,000 estimate, while the unemployment rate dipped to 4.4%. Traders still penciled in about 54 basis points of easing this year — a basis point is 0.01 percentage point — even as attention swung toward a Supreme Court ruling on President Donald Trump’s tariffs that could land as early as Friday. 1
The macro backdrop matters more than usual for Oracle because investors have tied the stock’s valuation to big, debt-heavy bets on AI-related cloud capacity. Oracle reignited “AI bubble” talk in December after a downbeat outlook and a jump in spending plans sent the shares tumbling and dragged other AI-linked names, including chipmakers, lower. 2
Oracle has pointed to a swelling backlog to argue the buildout is justified. In its last quarterly update, the company said remaining performance obligations — contracted revenue not yet booked — climbed to $523 billion, and finance chief Doug Kehring cited new commitments from Meta and Nvidia among drivers. 3
Dividend buyers also had a near-term date on their screens. A filing showed Oracle’s board declared a quarterly cash dividend of 50 cents a share, payable on January 23 to shareholders of record as of January 9. 4
Even with Friday’s gain, the stock is still nursing a deep drawdown from last year’s peak. Yahoo Finance data show Oracle’s 52-week range at $118.86 to $345.72, leaving the shares about 44% below the high and under their 50-day moving average. 5
But the bigger risk case has not gone away: investors are still testing how quickly Oracle can turn AI demand into cash flow while funding a rapid data-center buildout, and how concentrated that growth becomes in a small set of customers. Oracle said in December that talks around a planned $10 billion Michigan data center project were on track after scrutiny over financing, underscoring how sensitive the stock is to any hint of delay or higher funding costs. 6
Next up is the next real checkpoint on spending and cloud demand. Oracle’s investor relations FAQ says fiscal third-quarter results are due in mid-March, and the company’s earnings calendar entry on Yahoo Finance lists March 9 after the close. 7
