New York, February 20, 2026, 10:57 (EST) — Regular session
- Oracle shares fell about 2.7% in morning trade, underperforming a broader market rise
- Nvidia is nearing a $30 billion investment in OpenAI as part of a funding round topping $100 billion, a source said
- Investors are looking to Nvidia’s results next week for signals on AI spending and data-center buildouts
Oracle (ORCL) fell 2.7% to $152.25 by 10:51 a.m. EST on Friday, after swinging between $151.31 and $157.85 on volume of about 6.7 million shares.
The S&P 500 was up 0.44% and the Nasdaq Composite 0.62% after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs, a lift that came despite lingering worries over pricey tech valuations and whether heavy AI spending is paying off.
“Markets are responding with a greater risk appetite for equities because we finally got something resolved,” said Todd Schoenberger, chief investment officer at CrossCheck Management. (Reuters)
The dip kept attention on Oracle’s place in the AI buildout trade, where funding and customer demand can move stocks as much as quarterly numbers.
Nvidia is close to finalizing a $30 billion investment in OpenAI as part of a fundraising round in which the ChatGPT maker is seeking more than $100 billion, a person familiar with the matter said. SoftBank and Amazon are also likely to participate, the source said. (Reuters)
Investors now have a near-term date circled: Nvidia’s results next week, with the chipmaker’s guidance and customer signals expected to ripple across cloud and software names.
Marta Norton, chief investment strategist at Empower, said “It’s hard for Nvidia to surprise when everyone expects it to surprise.” (Reuters)
Oracle has already put a number on its own funding needs. On Feb. 1, the company said it expected to raise $45 billion to $50 billion in 2026 to build additional cloud infrastructure capacity, pointing to contracted demand from Oracle Cloud Infrastructure customers including AMD, Meta, Nvidia, OpenAI, TikTok and xAI.
Oracle said it planned to raise about half through equity-linked and common equity issuances — including mandatory convertible preferred securities and a new at-the-market share-sale program of up to $20 billion — and the rest from senior unsecured bonds. The company was sued in January by bondholders over disclosures about its debt needs, and the cost of insuring its debt against default spiked in December, the report said. (Reuters)
In an SEC filing tied to that financing push, Oracle described an offering of depositary shares representing fractional interests in mandatory convertible preferred stock — securities that must convert into common shares later.
The filing also restricts dividends and certain share repurchases while the preferred remains outstanding unless dividends on it have been paid. Mandatory convertibles can limit near-term cash flexibility while pushing part of the shareholder impact into a future conversion date. (SEC)
For traders, ORCL has turned into a running test of the AI capex cycle: how fast data centers get built, who funds them, and when cash starts to show up. The day-to-day tape has looked more like an infrastructure story than a traditional software one.
But the risk case hasn’t gone away. If the buildout takes longer to pay, equity sales come faster than expected, or borrowing costs stay high, Oracle could face renewed pressure on dilution and leverage. Any stumble in the funding ecosystem around big AI customers would also keep nerves tight.
Next week’s focus is Nvidia’s quarterly report on Wednesday, along with earnings from software companies including Salesforce and Intuit — events investors see as key tests for sentiment around AI spending and disruption. Oracle holders will be watching for any fresh clues on the pace and pricing of its own funding plan. (Reuters)
