NEW YORK, Jan 3, 2026, 09:33 ET — Market closed
- Palantir Technologies ended Friday down 5.6% at $167.86, after trading as low as $166.38.
- The pullback came as U.S. chipmakers rallied while the tech-heavy Nasdaq finished slightly lower on the first session of 2026.
- Traders are watching key technical levels and next week’s U.S. jobs data, a fresh test for high-multiple growth stocks.
Palantir Technologies Inc. shares fell 5.6% on Friday to close at $167.86, ending the first U.S. trading session of 2026 with a sharp pullback in one of the market’s most closely watched AI-linked software names.
The slide mattered because it landed as investors rotated toward AI “infrastructure” winners such as chipmakers, while trimming exposure to some high-valuation growth stocks that drove much of last year’s gains. The Nasdaq dipped 0.03% even as the Dow rose 0.66% and the S&P 500 added 0.19%. Reuters
Joe Mazzola, head of trading and derivatives strategy at Charles Schwab, said investors were paying closer attention to pricing in the AI trade. “But I do think that investors might be a little bit more conscious about some of the valuations that they’re paying for some of the AI plays,” he told Reuters. Reuters
Palantir opened at $181.35 and swung between $182.93 and $166.38, with about 60.6 million shares changing hands, according to market data.
From a chart standpoint, the drop pushed Palantir below its 50-day moving average of $181.20 and left it near its 200-day moving average of $168.89, levels some traders use as quick gauges of short- and long-term trend. Palantir’s 12-month range stands at $63.40 to $207.52, according to MarketBeat.
Palantir sells data-integration and analytics software used by governments and businesses, and it has been positioned by investors as a beneficiary of wider adoption of artificial intelligence tools in day-to-day operations.
The company’s last quarterly update in November projected fourth-quarter revenue of $1.327 billion to $1.331 billion, above Wall Street expectations at the time, and raised its full-year revenue outlook, citing demand for its AI-powered services.
Friday’s market tone did not help. Chip stocks rallied, but several megacap tech names such as Apple and Microsoft fell, and Treasury yields moved higher as investors looked ahead to a new batch of delayed economic data after the U.S. government shutdown.
Markets are now re-pricing how much they are willing to pay for growth as attention shifts from last year’s AI enthusiasm to near-term catalysts: interest-rate expectations, labor-market data and the durability of corporate tech spending.
With U.S. markets closed Saturday, the next test for Palantir comes Monday, when traders will watch whether the stock can stabilize around longer-term support levels after Friday’s late-session slide.
Any renewed jump in Treasury yields could keep pressure on richly valued software shares, which tend to be more sensitive to interest-rate moves because investors discount more of their value from future earnings.
Investors will also track the timing of Palantir’s next quarterly report. Wall Street Horizon lists an unconfirmed earnings date of Feb. 2, after market, based on historical reporting patterns rather than a company announcement.
When that update arrives, traders are likely to focus on revenue growth, demand for Palantir’s AI platform, and any 2026 outlook that supports — or challenges — the premium valuation investors have assigned to the stock.
