Why Is IBM Stock Surging Nearly 7% Higher In Overnight Trading?

• ‘Big Blue’ is back in the spotlight, with the stock now firmly in the green YTD. 
• IBM posted its best weekly gains in 25 years last year, amid optimism around the government's backing of its new quantum computing venture.
• Stocktwits sentiment for IBM climbed higher in the ‘extremely bullish’ zone.

International Business Machines’ stock surged 7% in overnight trading ahead of Monday, extending gains sparked by last week’s quantum foundry announcement, as well as social media users recirculating President Donald Trump’s December comments praising the company’s CEO and stock.

Several notable finance news-related handles on X, including Gurgavin and Polymarket Money, issued posts highlighting Trump calling IBM CEO Arvind Krishna “legendary” and saying that the company’s shares would “go up a lot more.” 

The remarks are originally from a Dec. 10 White House business roundtable event. Still, they drove fresh interest in IBM shares during Sunday's overnight trading.

Retail View On IBM

Several retail traders on Stocktwits reposted Trump’s comments, although a few clarified that they are old. Nonetheless, the retail sentiment for IBM moved higher in the ‘extremely bullish’ zone and message volume rose 25% in the last 24-hours.

Crucially, the surge brought back the spotlight on Trump’s involvement in the market. “The sunlight is reflecting off of $DELL and IBM is shooting back towards $300. Trump has taken full command of this market. Anything he touches goes parabolic,” a trader wrote.

“I don’t know what people see in him, but if you can profit off the exuberance, might as well. I think Burry will eventually be right about the current valuations on some companies. 2000 vibes. Sneaker companies are switching to ”AI companies” and rallying 100% overnight,” they said, alluding to how the market is trading on hype rather than fundamentals.

Investors Watch ‘Trump Pump’ 

Trump has made similar comments about Micron, Dell, and Palantir in recent months, triggering stock price spikes. Last month, Trump’s personal stakes became public through forms released by the U.S. Office of Government Ethics, which invariably led investors towards stocks the President owns or bought last quarter.

In the first three months of 2026, Trump purchased securities linked to companies ⁠such as Microsoft, Meta Platforms, Oracle, Broadcom, Bank of America and Goldman Sachs, as well as trades ​in municipal bonds, according to the disclosure, which listed transaction values in broad ranges.

IBM’s Quantum Push

Meanwhile, IBM is inching closer to an all-time high ($320.70 from last November). The stock gained 17.3% last week, its best performance in 25 years, or since April 2001.

IBM said on Thursday it would invest more than $10 billion in quantum computing over five years, aiming to bring a commercial, large-scale system to market by 2029. The push is aimed at engineering a "fault-tolerant" quantum computer – a milestone that would mean the hardware can automatically correct its own computational errors - a major hurdle that has long prevented the technology from achieving widespread commercial application.

IBM's multi-billion-dollar plan came a week after the government announced a $1 billion grant towards the development of quantum computing technology. At the time, IBM said it would match the grant with $1 billion of its own money to establish a new spin-off company called Anderon, which would operate the new quantum wafer foundry.

With last week’s surge, IBM stock has jumped into the green for the year, with 2% gained year to date.

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