Microsoft shares rise about 4% as Copilot overhaul with Home, Code and Autopilot lands alongside Oppenheimer target hike

Microsoft introduced a redesigned Copilot on September 25, 2026, pitched as a push to monetize its AI assets. The update centers on three features: Home, a starting point where Chat and Cowork come together; Code, which lets non-developers build widgets and internal apps on GitHub Copilot technology; and Autopilot, a persistent agent that keeps working without prompts. Autopilot is a rebrand of Scout, which Microsoft launched at its Build conference in June.

Word, Excel and PowerPoint now run directly inside Copilot, so users can create and edit files without switching apps. Code reaches Frontier customers at the end of September with broader availability in the coming weeks, and Autopilot enters private preview at the same time. Agentic work in Code and Autopilot moves to usage-based credits, while basic Chat keeps a flat per-user fee. The launch follows the merger of Microsoft's consumer and business Copilot apps, which began rolling out on August 13, and Bloomberg described the reboot as Microsoft abandoning the personal AI chatbot race.

MSFT rose 3.66% to close at $516.17 on volume of 37.9 million shares, about 15% above its three-month average, while the S&P 500 gained 0.49%. The Copilot news was not the only catalyst: Oppenheimer raised its price target to $570 from $515 the same morning. Even after the move, the stock is up about 7% year to date, trailing the Technology Select Sector SPDR Fund's 37% gain.

What to watch: adoption of the usage-based agent pricing, growth in paid Microsoft 365 Copilot seats from the 30 million reported in August, and product detail at Microsoft Ignite, scheduled for November 17-20 in San Francisco.