New York, March 4, 2026, 16:59 EST — After-hours.
- Palantir shares closed up and stuck with those gains after hours.
- Pentagon suppliers are now pulling Anthropic’s Claude out of military AI platforms, with contractors scrambling to comply after a supplier shake-up.
- Traders await signals from the Pentagon and keep an eye on Friday’s U.S. jobs report.
Palantir Technologies Inc climbed about 4% on Wednesday, with shares last trading at $153.19 after hours, up 4.0%. The price moved between $145.91 and $154.50, putting Palantir’s market cap near $433 billion. The price-to-earnings ratio hovered close to 395 — that’s what investors are paying for every $1 of profit.
Palantir’s Maven Smart Systems, a key tool for military intelligence and targeting, now finds itself caught in Washington’s drive to sever ties with AI supplier Anthropic. According to two sources, Maven relies on Anthropic’s Claude code for its prompts and workflows, and swapping it out could take Palantir several months — affecting contracts tied to Maven that top $1 billion. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered the change “effective immediately.” CEO Alex Karp, for his part, cautioned Tuesday that companies who “screw the military” risk triggering “the nationalization of our technology.” Pentagon, Anthropic, and Palantir all declined to comment. Reuters
The order is already shaking up federal AI procurement, with a tighter grip on the government’s supply chain. Staff at the State, Treasury, and Health and Human Services departments have been told to pull back from Anthropic products and pivot to competitors like OpenAI and Google. According to the State Department, its internal StateChat bot will now run on OpenAI’s GPT4.1. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, for his part, said the company will revise its Pentagon contract to specify that its AI systems won’t be “intentionally used for domestic surveillance” targeting Americans. Reuters
Choppy risk appetite didn’t stop tech from climbing. U.S. equities finished in the green following news that Iran might be willing to negotiate, while President Donald Trump vowed to stabilize oil markets. The Nasdaq rose 1.29%; the S&P 500 added 0.78% for the session. “It is time to be realistic and not get carried away,” said Jim Awad of Clearstead Advisors. Richard Bernstein, head of Richard Bernstein Advisors, warned that a prolonged conflict hurting the U.S. economy could trigger “more volatility.” Reuters
Defense names surged again Monday morning, with Northrop Grumman, General Dynamics, RTX, and Lockheed Martin each climbing anywhere from 1.1% to 3.7%. Jefferies analysts pointed to the latest strikes as another driver for increased U.S. defense spending—and highlighted programs like Golden Dome. Geopolitical jitters have been throwing fresh fuel on the sector in fits and starts.
Palantir finds itself in a tricky spot—a firm touting its software as vital to the Pentagon, yet currently relying on a third-party model supplier that’s now being pushed out. The term “AI model” refers to the core software that produces text and code; replacing it often requires overhauling workflows and putting operational systems back through testing.
Pulling a model that’s already woven into prompts and tools is almost never straightforward. If swapping it out gets bogged down, contractors risk hitting delays, racking up extra costs, and drawing fresh attention to exactly what’s in the stack—and who’s got their hands on it. That question gets especially sticky when these systems intersect with targeting and surveillance.
Competition here is front and center. Inside agencies, OpenAI and Google are already part of the conversation, and if the Pentagon signals a change in its preferred vendors, contractors can be expected to fall in line fast—nobody wants to get caught lagging behind.
Investors are eyeing potential updates from the Defense Department on how it plans to implement and enforce the changes. They’re also looking to see if Palantir can bring in an alternative without missing a beat on Maven deliveries. If there’s any word on when to expect changes, or a specific replacement model partner is named, that could move the stock.
Friday, March 6, brings the next macro hurdle: the U.S. jobs report. Reuters’ economist survey points to a 59,000 gain in February nonfarm payrolls, with unemployment stuck at 4.3%—numbers that could tip the scales for rate bets and demand for high-multiple tech stocks.
