New York, February 16, 2026, 17:17 EST — Market closed.
- Salesforce (CRM) last closed up 2.3% on Friday at $189.72
- U.S. stock markets are shut on Monday for the Presidents Day holiday
- Traders refocus on Salesforce’s AI commerce push and next week’s quarterly report
Salesforce, Inc. shares ended Friday up 2.3% at $189.72, after swinging between $184.31 and $193.43 in the session. ServiceNow climbed 3.6% and Oracle gained 2.3%, while Microsoft edged down 0.1%.
U.S. stock markets are closed on Monday for Washington’s Birthday, the exchange holiday better known as Presidents Day. Trading resumes on Tuesday. (New York Stock Exchange)
The break lands in the middle of a rough patch for big software names, with investors arguing over whether new AI tools will help growth or squeeze traditional licensing models. Salesforce’s next set of results and product updates sit right in that debate.
On Friday, Wall Street’s main indexes steadied after inflation data cooled more than expected, but tech shares slipped as “nagging fears of disruption by artificial intelligence” lingered, Reuters reported. “Large cap tech stocks continue to be an anchor on the market,” said Michael James, managing director at Rosenblatt Securities. (Reuters)
Salesforce, for its part, said last week it signed a definitive agreement to acquire Cimulate, which it described as a specialist in AI-powered product discovery for retailers. The company said the deal is aimed at accelerating search and discovery inside Agentforce Commerce. (Salesforce)
“The future of commerce is agentic,” said Nitin Mangtani, Salesforce’s SVP and general manager for commerce and retail, using the term for software that uses AI “agents” to guide shoppers through discovery and purchase. Cimulate CEO John Andrews said the tie-up would help scale its technology inside “the world’s leading retailers,” according to the release. (Salesforce)
Keith Kirkpatrick, a research director at the Futurum Group, called the Cimulate move “a bold bet on the future of commerce” and said it raises the stakes for rival commerce platforms such as Adobe, Shopify and SAP as they push deeper into AI-driven shopping. (Futurum)
Salesforce has also been teeing up its Spring ’26 product release, due to start rolling out on Feb. 23, with fresh AI, data and automation features that it said are designed to tie together selling, service and data work. (Salesforce)
The next hard catalyst is earnings. Salesforce said it will release fourth-quarter and full-year fiscal 2026 results on Feb. 25 after the close, followed by a conference call at 5 p.m. ET. (Salesforce Investor Relations)
But the setup cuts both ways. If customers slow spending, or if investors decide AI-driven automation will pressure per-user software pricing, Salesforce could give back last week’s bounce quickly. Deal integration risk sits in the background, even before any numbers hit the tape.
For Tuesday’s reopen, traders will look for follow-through in software after last week’s volatility. After that, the calendar tightens: the Spring ’26 rollout begins Feb. 23, then Salesforce reports on Feb. 25.
