New AI Fear Unlocked as Traders Ditch Companies at Risk of Disruption
Get caught up.
A trader works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.
Photographer: Michael Nagle/BloombergJust when you thought you could pause to catch your breath… A tumultous few days for global markets showed little sign of abating Wednesday. This time, it was renewed fears over the potentially devastating impact of artificial intelligence on the software, financial services and asset management industries that triggered widespread declines.
The selloff started after AI startup Anthropic launched a new productivity tool for in-house lawyers. Wall Street has been skeptical about software stocks for a while, but sentiment plummeted after the release. A Goldman Sachs basket of US software stocks sank 6%, its biggest one-day decline since April’s tariff-fueled selloff, while an index of financial services firms tumbled almost 7%.