What's Going On With Oracle Stock Wednesday?

Oracle Corp. (NYSE:ORCL) shares are surging Wednesday morning. The gains follow news that the tech giant slashed roughly 18% of its global workforce. Employees reportedly received termination emails at 6 a.m. Tuesday from “Oracle Leadership.” Access to systems was cut immediately without prior warning. Funding The AI Build-Out The move signals a pivot toward infrastructure. TD Cowen estimates the cuts will free up $8 billion to $10 billion in cash flow. This capital will fund a projected $156 billion AI data center build-out. Oracle recently reported a 95% jump in net income to $6.13 billion. Managing Massive Backlogs Oracle faces a staggering $553 billion in remaining performance obligations. This backlog rose 325% year-over-year. A $300 billion deal with OpenAI drove much of this growth. The backlog is enormous. Whether it converts to revenue is the question Oracle has not answered. The Austin, Texas-based company has taken on $58 billion in new debt within two months, and multiple U.S. banks have reportedly pulled back from financing its data center projects. Broad Tech Sector Shifts Oracle is not alone in its strategy. Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) and Meta Platforms Inc. (NASDAQ:META) have also announced significant cuts. Prediction markets on Kalshi show an 87% probability that 2026 tech layoffs will exceed 2025 levels. Technical Analysis Oracle is trading 0.9% below its 20-day simple moving average (SMA) and 17.1% below its 100-day SMA, keeping the near-term rebound attempt boxed in by a still-bearish longer-term structure. Shares are up 3.64% over the past 12 months, and the stock is positioned closer to its 52-week lows than highs after peaking at $345.72 and bottoming at $118.86. RSI is at 45.25, which sits in neutral territory and suggests momentum is neither stretched nor washed out right now. MACD is at -3.7934, below its signal line at -3.1203, which keeps bearish pressure in place despite the premarket bid. Key Resistance: $165.50 Key Support: $138.50 ORCL Stock Price Activity: Oracle shares were up 1.97% at $150.01 during premarket trading on Wednesday, according to Benzinga Pro data. Image via Shutterstock