Stock futures retreat as investors size up Nvidia and Salesforce results: live updates
Traders on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange in Manhattan, February 25, 2026, set the tone for a cautious session as earnings from Nvidia and Salesforce hit the wires.
But here's where it gets controversial: the market’s reaction underscored a delicate balance between spectacular AI-driven growth and the sustainability of software earnings in a rapidly shifting landscape.
What happened in after-hours trading showed a mixed picture. Nvidia saw its shares edge higher on the back of a fifth-quarter beat on both earnings and revenue, while Salesforce slumped more than 4% as it guided for softer fiscal 2027 revenue, refreshing concerns about AI disruption and how it might affect traditional software players.
These after-hours moves came after a solid intraday session where major indices posted gains. The S&P 500 closed up around 0.8% for a second straight session of advances, and the Nasdaq Composite jumped roughly 1.3%. The Dow rose about 307 points, or 0.6%, helping buoy sentiment.
In the regular session, software and technology names recovered some of their recent softness, with Oracle rising about 1.2% and all members of the celebrated Magnificent Seven finishing in the green. Microsoft, often a laggard this year, gained around 3% and helped anchor the broader tech rebound.
Despite the day’s positives, the mood surrounding software and cybersecurity remains fragile. Investors are watching how quickly AI advancements could reshape the competitive landscape, potentially challenging incumbent software providers.
“Looking at software right now, earnings revisions for the next one to two years are pointing higher,” said Abigail Yoder, U.S. equity strategist at JPMorgan Global Wealth Management, on CNBC’s Closing Bell. “This isn’t about what happens to software earnings in the next year or two; it’s about their terminal value and how that shapes current valuations. The market is wrestling with that tension.”
Earnings in focus besides Nvidia and Salesforce include Warner Bros. Discovery, Dell Technologies, and CoreWeave, all slated to report on Thursday.
On the data front, investors await weekly jobless claims and the January producer price index, both due soon, to glean more about the economy’s momentum and the inflation path.
Nvidia’s CEO Jensen Huang argued that markets may have overestimated the AI threat to software, suggesting that applications and services built around Nvidia’s platform will continue to thrive. He noted that competitors like ServiceNow could be outperformed by highly optimized agents tailored to the work at hand, a claim that feeds into a broader debate about AI’s impact on software margins and business models.
The broader AI-and-software narrative has weighed on software-related exchange-traded funds and big justify AI bets; for example, the iShares Expanded Tech-Software Sector ETF has faced downward pressure in recent weeks as concerns about AI disruption persist.
In the backdrop, copper futures topped the charts again, hinting at ongoing strength in the economy’s industrial and technology supply chains. May copper contracts advanced, continuing a multi-month climb that reflects optimism about global growth and demand for AI-capable infrastructure.
Bottom line: as investors weigh a duo of high-profile earnings and a still-evolving AI landscape, markets remain sensitive to guidance that could redefine growth trajectories for software and AI-adjacent businesses. The coming days will be telling as more tech results roll in and macro data adds context to the earnings narrative.
Controversial takeaway: if AI-driven efficiency continues to power data-center demand while software margins come under pressure from automation and pricing shifts, can traditional software vendors maintain their valuations, or will AI-native players redefine the sector’s winners and losers? Share your perspective in the comments: do the latest results support a durable software earnings story, or do they foreshadow a broader AI-driven re-scoping of the market?
