NEW YORK, June 1, 2026, 05:04 EDT
- IBM last traded at $297.80 ahead of Monday’s regular session, putting its market cap near $284 billion.
- IBM shares ended Friday 12.7% higher as the company made major pledges around quantum computing and open-source security.
- The NYSE plans a regular trading session, with core hours from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. ET.
IBM shares traded up 12.7% on Friday to close at $297.80, making the stock one of the more straightforward large-cap tech momentum plays going into the U.S. open Monday. That last quote before 5 a.m. in New York put International Business Machines Corp’s value around $283.5 billion.
IBM’s quantum push is under a microscope as investors weigh if it can finally put a new growth angle on a business still seen for its mainframes, consulting, and hybrid cloud. The New York Stock Exchange plans to operate normally Monday. June 1 is not a holiday in its 2026 schedule; regular hours are 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. ET.
IBM said last week it will invest over $10 billion in quantum computing through the next five years. Quantum computers use quantum physics to tackle problems that regular computers can’t handle. IBM also said it wants to have a large-scale, fault-tolerant quantum computer ready by 2029, with enough error controls for stable calculations.
Government is in the mix too. Reuters said the plan came after a Trump administration move to buy $2 billion of equity in nine quantum firms, with IBM getting half that money for Anderon, its planned U.S. quantum chip manufacturing project. IBM plans to put $1 billion of its own funds into Anderon.
IBM’s gains also pushed up the Dow Jones Industrial Average, since the index is price-weighted and IBM’s high price gives it more pull than cheaper components. MarketWatch said Friday that IBM and Salesforce made up about 134 points of the Dow’s 226-point climb.
Cybersecurity was the second focus for IBM. Together with Red Hat, the company is putting $5 billion into Project Lightwell, a new service aimed at making open-source software safer. Rob Thomas, head of IBM software, told Reuters the service will debut “as a commercial offering in the next 30 days,” offering clients a “stamp of approval” to signal their open source code is safe for use in production. Reuters
IBM Chairman and CEO Arvind Krishna called open source the “backbone” of the digital economy and modern AI in the company release. IBM and Red Hat pointed to Bank of America, Citi, Goldman Sachs, JPMorganChase, Mastercard, Morgan Stanley, Visa and Wells Fargo as early users. AAP News
Big indexes ended at record highs Friday, lifted by tech. Dell jumped after bumping up its outlook, and both Hewlett Packard Enterprise and Super Micro Computer rose. Reuters said the gains came with “euphoric sentiment” on AI, quoting Wells Fargo’s Ohsung Kwon, who pointed to stronger earnings as the real driver. Reuters
Stocks neared record highs Monday with AI demand still in play, Reuters said, though markets were choppy. Oil jumped almost 3% as new tensions in the Gulf stoked inflation and rate worries. S&P 500 futures ticked up 0.3%, while Nasdaq futures gained 0.5%.
The risk is clear. Quantum machines still have high error rates, and Reuters pointed out Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai last year said workable quantum computers could be another five to 10 years out. If IBM’s investment pace outstrips what commercial buyers want, or its security products take time to catch on, Friday’s re-rating might prove to be too soon, not too low.
IBM’s first-quarter revenue came in at $15.9 billion, a 9% gain, with software revenue up 11%. The company maintained its outlook for more than 5% full-year revenue growth at constant currency, stripping out exchange-rate moves. IBM also increased its quarterly dividend to $1.69 per share, payable June 10.
