New York, March 2, 2026, 16:42 (ET) — Trading moves into after-hours.
- Palantir shares pushed higher again after hours, building on Monday’s surge.
- Government tech suppliers drew renewed attention after Washington yanked Anthropic tools from its agencies.
- Middle East headlines are in focus for traders, with eyes also on U.S. economic data due later this week.
Palantir Technologies Inc. shares jumped 5.8% to $145.17 in after-hours trading on Monday, extending the earlier rally that pushed the data-analytics company’s valuation to roughly $433 billion.
Palantir’s shift stands out right now, acting as a quick-read barometer for two investor focal points: Washington’s appetite for defense-focused software, and the pace at which officials are updating the roster of sanctioned AI vendors.
Geopolitics can yank a Silicon Valley company like Palantir into the defense orbit in no time. The firm pushes software, yet its proximity to national security means headlines sometimes matter as much as its financials.
The U.S. Treasury Department and the Federal Housing Finance Agency dropped Anthropic tools like Claude on Monday, following an order from President Donald Trump to halt agency ties with the AI firm. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and FHFA Director William Pulte shared the news via X. Trump confirmed Defense and other agencies will have six months to wind down usage. Meanwhile, Reuters reported OpenAI struck a deal late Friday to bring its tech to the Defense Department’s classified systems.
The Anthropic move jolted federal tech procurement and shined a light on firms ready to step in. Palantir, with its core focus on providing data-analysis software to government agencies, found itself facing the policy shift right amid a risk-off market backdrop.
After U.S. and Israeli air strikes on Iran over the weekend—strikes that Reuters reported killed Tehran’s Supreme Leader—oil and defense stocks swung sharply. U.S. crude finished the session up 6% at $71.23 a barrel. Investors, according to Bill Smead at Smead Capital Management, largely saw the move as a blip, expecting “problems in the oil patch” to subside. Reuters
Palantir hasn’t changed its story lately on the fundamentals, but those numbers are still in play. The latest quarterly forecast put first-quarter revenue between $1.532 billion and $1.536 billion, with 2026 revenue seen landing in the $7.182 billion to $7.198 billion range.
This trade isn’t a one-way bet. Should the conflict appear contained or if the federal retreat from Anthropic ends up more limited, much of Monday’s rush could quickly fizzle. When a stock’s valuation leaves minimal room for disappointment, sharp swings hit that much harder.
Traders are eyeing potential updates from agencies regarding the Anthropic phase-out, as well as fresh headlines from the Middle East. The big date circled on calendars: Friday’s U.S. Employment Situation report for February, set for 8:30 a.m. ET on March 6. Reuters, in its week-ahead preview, called out those jobs numbers as a key swing factor for rate expectations.
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