NEW YORK, Feb 16, 2026, 19:20 EST — Market closed.
International Business Machines Corp (IBM) shares will be back in focus on Tuesday, when U.S. markets reopen after the Presidents Day holiday. The stock last closed up 1.1% at $262.38 on Friday.
That matters because IBM has been lurching around, and the restart lands in a week packed with U.S. data that can swing interest-rate bets and, by extension, tech valuations.
IBM has also been in the headlines again for how it is leaning into artificial intelligence — not just selling it, but reshaping products and entry-level jobs around it.
Shares dropped 6.5% on Feb. 11 and slid another 4.9% on Feb. 12 before Friday’s bounce, leaving the stock about 10% below its Feb. 10 close, according to Investing.com data. Volume jumped to 12.6 million shares on Feb. 12, versus about 6.8 million on Friday. (Investing)
U.S. exchanges were closed on Monday for Presidents Day and are due to reopen on Tuesday, the New York Stock Exchange holiday calendar shows. (New York Stock Exchange)
Over the long weekend, industry site IT Jungle revisited IBM’s updated FlashSystem line of all-flash storage arrays, arguing that AI buildouts are tightening supplies of memory and flash chips. It said the new FlashSystem 5600, 7600 and 9600 models are slated to ship in most markets on March 6. (IT Jungle)
Futurum Group analyst Alastair Cooke wrote that IBM is pitching the refresh as a “major leap” toward autonomous storage management and cyber resilience, helped by “agentic AI” — software designed to take actions on its own, rather than just answer prompts. He pointed to IBM claims of sub-minute ransomware detection and flagged Dell Technologies, NetApp and Pure Storage as key rivals as storage makers bolt more AI into the box. (Futurum)
IBM drew another round of attention on Monday after TechSpot reported the company plans to triple entry-level hiring in the U.S. this year. Chief human resources officer Nickle LaMoreaux said companies that “doubled down on entry-level hiring” will be best placed in a few years, adding IBM will hire for “software developers and all these jobs we’re being told AI can do,” according to the report. (TechSpot)
For Tuesday’s restart, traders will be watching U.S. retail sales and the Empire State manufacturing survey at 8:30 a.m. ET, followed by housing-market index and business inventories later in the morning. The week also brings the Federal Reserve’s meeting minutes on Wednesday — the detailed record of its January rate decision. (Econoday)
But IBM’s next move may still come down to the macro tape: a hot retail-sales print or a hawkish tone in the Fed minutes could push yields higher and pressure rate-sensitive tech. And in a crowded infrastructure market, product claims still need to show up in orders.
IBM’s board has declared a quarterly dividend of $1.68 a share, payable March 10 to shareholders of record on Feb. 10, a filing showed. Between the March 6 FlashSystem rollout and the midweek Fed minutes, IBM’s first post-holiday session may have less to do with headlines and more with positioning. (Sec)
