NEW YORK, Jan 15, 2026, 21:25 EST — Market closed
- IBM fell 3.6% on Thursday, bucking a broader market rise.
- The company set Jan. 28 for its next earnings report and call.
- IBM rolled out “Sovereign Core,” aimed at customers that want tighter control of data and AI workloads.
International Business Machines (IBM) shares fell $11.08, or 3.6%, to $297.95 at Thursday’s close, snapping out of step with a market that finished higher. (MarketWatch)
The slide lands with IBM heading into Friday’s session with investors counting down to the company’s fourth-quarter report on Jan. 28 and a 5 p.m. ET conference call, set after the market close. (IBM Newsroom)
Positioning has been lopsided in places. Hazeltree, which tracks crowded hedge-fund trades, said short bets in IBM stayed among the persistent “crowded” shorts in 2025 — meaning many funds were leaning the same way on a drop. (Reuters)
The broader tape moved the other way on Thursday. U.S. stocks rose as big banks climbed after earnings and chip names rallied after Taiwan Semiconductor’s results and outlook, lifting the main indexes. (Reuters)
IBM had come into the day on firmer footing. The stock rose 1.94% on Wednesday to close at $309.03, outpacing Microsoft and Alphabet in a session when the wider market was lower, MarketWatch data showed. (MarketWatch)
IBM, for its part, announced “IBM Sovereign Core” on Thursday, pitching it as software for enterprises, governments and service providers that want to build and run AI workloads under their own operational control — the company’s answer to rising demands for “digital sovereignty,” or keeping control of data and systems under local rules. “Businesses are facing growing pressure to innovate while meeting tightening regulatory requirements,” Priya Srinivasan, general manager of IBM Software Products, said. (IBM Newsroom)
IBM said the product will start in tech preview in February, with general availability planned for mid-2026. The company also flagged a Jan. 27 IBM Technology Summit where it plans to discuss Sovereign Core. (Ibm)
Outside analysts leaned on the compliance angle. “It is addressing what we’ve seen for a lot of corporations, a lot of CIOs, is a major challenge,” Rick Villars, group vice president of worldwide research at IDC, told CIO Dive, describing the push to square AI rollouts with local requirements. (CIO Dive)
Others framed it as a way to reduce reliance on hyperscalers. “It’s less a sovereign cloud and more of a software stack to build your own sovereign cloud,” Dion Hinchcliffe, lead of the CIO practice at the Futurum Group, said, contrasting IBM’s approach with Microsoft, Amazon and Google-style sovereign cloud setups. (Network World)
But the stock still trades on nearer-term questions than product roadmaps. If investors see softer demand in software or consulting, or if new offerings take longer to turn into booked revenue, the pressure can stick into earnings.
For Friday and the week ahead, traders will weigh whether IBM’s slide was a one-day reset after Wednesday’s jump or the start of a wider pullback as money rotates through tech names.
The next hard catalysts are close: IBM’s Jan. 27 Technology Summit on Sovereign Core, then the Jan. 28 results and call.
