Salesforce Expands AI, SpaceX Rallies Past Amazon

Salesforce ($CRM) announced it will acquire Fin for $3.6bn to expand its AI agent services. Fin's AI agent resolves complex customer queries autonomously across channels including live chat, email, WhatsApp, SMS, phone, and Slack. The acquisition positions $CRM to deepen its enterprise AI capabilities as companies accelerate autonomous workflow adoption.

Palantir Technologies ($PLTR) shares traded at $134.71 with a one-day return of 5.25% following a broad rally in AI and software shares tied to lower bond yields after a U.S.-Iran peace agreement. Analysts noted the stock could be overvalued following the AI rally, though macro conditions continue to interact with the company's growth story.

The broader software sector declined 9.8% over the past six months, diverging from the S&P 500's 8.4% return, as lofty valuation multiples exposed SaaS companies to drawdowns despite ongoing digital transformation tailwinds.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise ($HPE) was named the 2026 North America Partner of the Year for Hybrid Cloud Solutions by WEI, a leading IT solutions provider. The company remains a relatively overlooked beneficiary of enterprise AI infrastructure spending, according to market observers.

$HPE announced it is unifying the HPE and Juniper Networks partner programs under HPE Partner Ready Vantage, creating a single global program for partners to build, sell, and offer services across networking, cloud, and AI. Beginning November 1, 2026, partners will operate under one program with a simplified structure, aligned incentives, and a consistent engagement model. The company also formed partnerships with eight quantum computing firms to build hybrid quantum-supercomputing platforms, though retail investor interest in the quantum tie-ups remained limited.

Marvell Technology ($MRVL) shares inched lower in premarket trading after outgoing CFO Willem Meintjes filed to sell 211,329 shares valued at $65M, while newly appointed CFO Dan Durn received restricted stock units as part of standard executive compensation.

STMicroelectronics ($STM) is looking to raise $1.5 billion from selling convertible bonds that can be exchanged into equity after the chipmaker's shares tripled in value year-to-date. The debt offering follows a broad AI-fueled rally in semiconductor stocks.

Dun & Bradstreet announced collaborations with OpenAI, Microsoft ($MSFT), and Anthropic, bringing the D&B Commercial Graph into their platform ecosystems. Users can now access Dun & Bradstreet data across leading AI platforms including ChatGPT, Codex, Microsoft 365 Copilot, and Claude.

Shares of SpaceX rose more than 10% in premarket trading, putting the company on course to overtake Amazon.com ($AMZN) in market value to become the world's fifth-largest company as it extended a post-IPO rally. The stock was last up 10.4% at $212.50, jumping more than 57% above its $135 IPO price and giving the company a market capitalization of nearly $2.8 trillion if gains hold. SpaceX options activity is set to begin, with early activity expected to be heavy, volatile, and likely expensive.

Meta Platforms ($META), Snap, and YouTube ($GOOGL) face new pressure as the government proposed broader online safety restrictions for children. Meanwhile, $META is quietly becoming one of the market's strongest AI plays, with its latest results showing AI is already strengthening its core advertising business.