Figure 4

The "AI Scare Trade": February 2026

Stock declines triggered by AI product announcements and disruption fears

The "SaaSpocalypse" (Jan 30 - Feb 4)
Anthropic's Claude Cowork launch triggers historic SaaS sell-off
~$300B
in software market value evaporated in one week.
IGV (iShares Tech-Software ETF) fell 20%+ from late-2025 highs.
TEAM Atlassian
-35% in one week
INTU Intuit
-34% quarterly drop
CRM Salesforce
-25%+ since Jan 1
ADBE Adobe
P/E compressed 26x to 16x
The "AI Scare Trade" (Feb 9 - 14)
Sector-specific sell-offs triggered by startup AI product announcements
Insurance Trigger: Tuio launches ChatGPT-built insurance app
AJG Arthur J. Gallagher
-9.85%
MRSH Marsh
-7.5%
Wealth Management Trigger: Altruist launches AI tax planning tool
SCHW Charles Schwab
-10%
LPLA LPL Financial
-8.75%
RJF Raymond James
-8.31%
Real Estate Services Trigger: General AI disruption fears
CWK Cushman & Wakefield
-13.8% (Wed), -11.5% (Thu)
CBRE CBRE Group
-12.2% (Wed), -8.8% (Thu)
Logistics & Trucking Trigger: Algorhythm Holdings (formerly a karaoke company)
RXO RXO
-20.45%
CHRW C.H. Robinson
-14.54%
ULH Universal Logistics
-11%
Jim Reid, Global Head of Macro Research, Deutsche Bank
"It's perhaps indicative of the state of markets at the moment that a $6 million market cap company that until recently specialized in karaoke helped wipe tens of billions off logistics stocks."
Algorhythm Holdings (RIME), a former karaoke machine company, rose nearly 30% on the week. The Dow Jones Transportation Average had its worst day since April.
Edward Jones
Fears are "speculative in nature" rather than based on actual revenue changes.
Deutsche Bank
Any meaningful disruption will play out over a much longer timeline than investors expect.
UBS
Insurance broker sell-off was "meaningfully overdone." Brokers remain essential intermediaries.

Sources: Forbes (Feb 4, 2026); Inc. (Feb 6, 2026); CNN Business (Feb 16, 2026); Yahoo Finance (Feb 15, 2026); Investopedia (Feb 2026); Deutsche Bank, UBS, and Edward Jones research notes (Feb 2026).