12/11/25 06:33
Oracle shares tumble as gloomy forecasts, higher capex reignite AI bubble concerns
– Reuters
A view of Oracle headquarters on September 11, 2023 in Redwood Shores, California.Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
Oracle (ORCL-N) shares slumped nearly 11 per cent in premarket trading on Thursday after downbeat forecasts and higher capex fanned worries that its massive AI investments are taking longer than expected to pay off.
Executives warned that capital expenditures for fiscal 2026 are now expected to be US$15-billion higher than the US$35-billion the company estimated in September during its first-quarter earnings call.
Oracle’s shares have risen nearly 34 per cent this year, as mega cloud-computing deals with OpenAI and others and its plans to build large-scale AI cloud data centers helped boost sentiment.
However, investors have turned cautious, closely examining major cloud companies’ earnings reports for signs of an AI bubble fueled by heavy spending, high valuations, limited real-world productivity gains, and complex circular investments.
12/11/25 06:27
Thursday’s analyst upgrades and downgrades
– David Leeder
National Bank Financial analysts Shane Nagle and Rabi Nizami see supply shortfalls supporting the near-term price outlook for copper heading into 2026, while they warn “some cracks” in the demand outlook persist.
“Supply disruptions at several major copper mines combined with stronger than expected economic activity led to a small copper deficit and support for higher copper prices throughout 2025,” they said. “We forecast a larger deficit for 2026 as supply continues to fall short of demand growth. The biggest swing factor remains Cobre-Panamá – which continues to progress towards a resolution (we model contributions by H2/27).
Stocks mentioned include: Advantage Energy Ltd.; Capstone Copper Corp.; Evertz Technologies Ltd.; Foran Mining Corp.; Ivanhoe Electric Inc.; Osisko Metals Inc.; Peyto Exploration & Development Corp.; Solaris Resoures Inc.; Taseko Mines Ltd; Vermilion Energy Inc.
12/11/25 05:56
Wall Street futures slide as Oracle’s forecast revives AI bubble fears
– Reuters
U.S. stock index futures tumbled on Thursday after Oracle’s (ORCL-N) forecasts raised fresh concerns about hefty AI spending and outweighed optimism following a less hawkish tone from the Federal Reserve.
Oracle slumped 12 per cent in premarket trading after its quarterly forecasts missed analysts’ estimates and the company said annual spending would rise by US$15-billion compared with its earlier expectations.
The cloud company had gained prominence earlier this year after announcing deals to build AI cloud data centres for OpenAI.
However, its shares were on track for their biggest quarterly loss since mid-2002 on worries that heavy reliance on debt financing could be a recipe for a bubble similar to the early 2000s.
“Oracle has been at the epicentre of the AI financing debate, lacking the mammoth cash flows of the more traditional cloud giants,” said Matt Britzman, senior equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown.
Shares of other artificial intelligence companies were also hit.
Chipmakers Nvidia and Broadcom fell 1.6 per cent and 1.5 per cent, respectively, while hyperscalers such as Microsoft and Amazon.com dropped 1 per cent each and CoreWeave declined 3.3 per cent.
At 4:30 a.m. ET, Dow E-minis were down 144 points, or 0.30 per cent, S&P 500 E-minis were down 42.5 points, or 0.62 per cent and Nasdaq 100 E-minis were down 207.5 points, or 0.80 per cent.
Wall Street’s fear gauge, the CBOE volatility index, climbed 0.71 points and was last at 16.47.
12/11/25 05:27
Before the Bell: What every Canadian investor needs to know today
– S.R. Slobodian
Global markets were mixed as renewed worries over tech valuations after Oracle’s weak forecast offset investor relief from the U.S. Federal Reserve’s less-hawkish-than-anticipated comments after cutting interest rates.
Wall Street futures were in negative territory. Dow futures were down 0.4 per cent, S&P 500 futures fell 0.85 per cent and Nasdaq futures were 1.17 per cent lower as of 4 a.m.
TSX futures followed sentiment lower after a fresh record close yesterday.
In Canada, investors are getting results from Dollarama Inc., Empire Co. Ltd. and Lululemon Athletica Inc.
On Wall Street, markets are watching earnings from Costco Wholesale Corp. and Broadcom Inc.
“The initial positive tone from a Fed cut … is being overshadowed by Oracle,” said ANZ’s Head of Asia Research Khoon Goh. “The focus is mainly on the capex spend,” he said, which revived last month’s nerves about returns on AI investment.
Read more: Before the Bell
12/11/25 04:51
World markets struggle for direction as Oracle stocks AI bubble fears
– The Associated Press
World shares are mixed on Thursday after the U.S. stock market again approached its record high following the Federal Reserve’s cut in its main interest rate.
The Fed’s rate cut was widely expected, but comments by Fed Chair Jerome Powell encouraged hopes for more cuts in 2026.
However, some Asian technology companies saw sharp declines after Oracle (ORCL-N), a bellwether in the artificial intelligence sector, reported weaker than expected earnings. Its shares sank 11.5 per cent in aftermarket trading. The company’s spending spree in AI has some worried about its cash flow.
“Frankly, the report was not dramatically bad, but it came to confirm concerns around heavy AI spending, financed by debt, with an unknown timeline for revenue generation,” Ipek Ozkardeskaya of Swissquote said in a commentary.
The future for the S&P 500 fell 0.7 per cent while that for the Dow Jones Industrial Average was 0.3 per cent lower.
12/11/25 04:30
Wednesday markets recap: TSX at record high after Fed cuts interest rates
– Reuters, Globe staff
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell in Washington on Wednesday.Jacquelyn Martin/The Associated Press
Stocks ended higher on Wednesday after the Federal Reserve cut interest rates by a quarter percentage point as expected and investors bet on further easing down the road, even as the central bank signalled that it will put further cuts on pause for now. Canada’s main index closed at a fresh record high, tracking the advance on Wall Street.
The U.S. central bank said that before its next policy change it would look ahead for clearer signals about the direction of the job market and inflation that “remains somewhat elevated.” But projections after the Fed’s two-day meeting showed median expectations for another quarter-point cut in 2026, in line with expectations at the September meeting.
And policy makers raised estimates for 2026 GDP growth to 2.3 per cent from 1.8 per cent and maintained expectations for a 4.4-per-cent unemployment rate at the end of next year. In his press conference, Fed Chair Jerome Powell declined to provide guidance on whether there will be another rate cut in the near future. However, investors garnered some hope for easing from his comments that the labour market has significant downside risks and that the central bank doesn’t want its policy to push down on job creation.
The S&P 500 closed up 0.67 per cent and the S&P/TSX Composite 0.79 per cent. Bond yields fell in both the U.S. and Canada.