Stock Market Update

[BRIEFING.COM] The major averages remain firmly higher, sitting just a touch below their best levels of the session. 

Oracle (ORCL 153.08, +0.14, +0.09%) has given back its early gain after beating expectations on the top and bottom lines and reporting accelerating cloud growth in its Q1 (Aug) report last night. This was a solid report from Oracle, highlighted by accelerating cloud growth and management's expectation for Cloud Infrastructure growth to continue accelerating throughout FY27. The continued increase in RPO points to a healthy demand environment, while the sharp acceleration in Cloud Infrastructure growth provides further evidence that Oracle is converting its massive backlog into revenue. GPU utilization also remained very high at 97.9%, while capacity coming up for renewal was renewed or resold at roughly a 20% premium despite the majority of those GPUs being four years or older, supporting the economics of Oracle's AI infrastructure buildout. With shares down more than 20% YTD heading into the report, the accelerating growth and visible progress against its backlog offer some relief. Margin pressure and free cash flow remain the main watch items as Oracle continues its heavy infrastructure buildout, though customer prepayments and alternative funding structures help offset the cash burden, while operating margins have remained resilient.

The iShares GS Software ETF (IGV 101.25, +0.05, +0.05%) initially surged higher, but has since retreated to its flat line as well, though strength across semiconductor names keeps the information technology sector (+1.3%) firmly higher.