New York, Feb 15, 2026, 11:35 EST — The market is shut. (New York Stock Exchange)
- Oracle finished Friday’s session higher, climbing 2.3% to close at $160.14.
- U.S. stock exchanges will stay closed Monday for Washington’s Birthday. Trading picks up again on Tuesday.
- Oracle reports its next set of quarterly numbers on March 9.
Oracle shares finished Friday 2.3% higher at $160.14. The software maker heads into the U.S. market holiday with that gain, as Wall Street skips trading on Monday.
Why it matters now: Oracle stands out as a large-cap software stock that tends to react sharply to shifts in the “AI buildout” story—investors are weighing whether rising demand can keep up with ballooning infrastructure costs. With markets closed for Washington’s Birthday, traders will have to wait for Tuesday’s open to make their next moves. (New York Stock Exchange)
India’s now in focus after Oracle revealed plans to grow its cloud operations there, bringing the total to five cloud regions, according to The Economic Times, which quoted Oracle executive Chris Chelliah. The company will soon roll out Oracle services within Amazon Web Services, Chelliah said. “I think 2026 will be the year when projects really scale,” he told the newspaper. (The Economic Times)
Chelliah says Oracle is betting on “AI inference”—putting fresh business data through existing AI models—instead of building massive new ones from scratch. The move zeroes in on where enterprise data actually lives, and how cheaply it can be shuttled around. That choice puts Oracle toe-to-toe with Amazon, Microsoft, and Google in daily battles over multi-cloud strategies and price points. It’s a fight that’s as much about network and data-transfer fees as anything else. (The Economic Times)
Oracle shares bounced around between $155.34 and $162.11 on Friday, wrapping up the week nearly 12% higher than where they stood on Feb. 6. That comes after the stock took a hit earlier this month. (Investing.com)
The bounce hasn’t settled the nerves of investors worried about Oracle’s financing plans. Oracle aims to tap $45 billion to $50 billion in 2026, leaning on both debt and equity, to ramp up its cloud infrastructure for surging AI demand from big clients. (Reuters)
The funding approach has its downsides. Issuing more equity chips away at shareholder value, while additional debt could weigh on credit health—particularly if cloud revenue growth lags behind mounting data-center costs or if major clients start pulling back on their commitments. (Reuters)
Investors, for the moment, are eyeing two things: if Oracle’s India expansion drives concrete gains in cloud bookings, and whether those margins can hold up against fresh capacity costs. (The Economic Times)
March 9 is circled as the next key moment, with Oracle set to deliver its results after the U.S. close. Cloud growth, capex, and any commentary on funding requirements will be crucial in that report. (Yahoo Finance)
