Two key US indices out of three were down at the end of the month: in February, the market experienced several waves of software apocalypse due to fears that the AI boom would lead to the destruction of software developers' business models and increased unemployment. The state of the labor market should clarify the employment report, whose release is scheduled for next week. At the same time, its importance has grown sharply after the unexpectedly high wholesale inflation rate published on Friday, CNBC <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2026/02/27/stocks-will-get-early-march-test-with-high-stakes-jobs-report-next-week.html">notes </a>. It increased investors' fears, and they sold off stocks on the last trading day of the month.

Nasdaq Composite has its worst month in a year: market sell-offs hit due to AI threat

NVIDIA Corporation

U.S. stocks fell in trading on Thursday, February 26: strong reports from technology giant Nvidia and software developer Salesforce failed to support the market, CNBC reported. Nvidia shares, despite results and a forecast that beat analysts' expectations, fell 5.5%, its worst one-day decline since April. This pulled the securities of other representatives of the sector.

Nvidia shares suffered their worst collapse since April and pulled most of the market with it

Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.

Meta Platforms, Inc.

DocuSign, Inc.

Major US stock market indices jumped on Tuesday, February 24, after investors reassessed the negative impact of AI on global business processes. A presentation by AI startup Anthropic showed that its tools will not replace software developers, but will strengthen them by enabling them to develop products using their AI Claude. That calmed the markets a bit and the Software Developers Sector ETF rose 2% after several days of declines.

U.S. stocks are up. Why have fears of a soft-apocalypse abated?

International Business Machines Corporation

CrowdStrike Holdings, Inc.

Microsoft Corporation

Walmart Inc.

One of the blows to the market came from a Citrini Research report claiming that the AI boom could unleash unemployment as high as 10%

A new wave of soft-apocalypse and fears over duties: US indices lost more than 1%

Nasdaq rose at the end of the week for the first time in a month and a half

Duties, AI, the risk of war and the Fed's no worries: the S&amp;P 500 posted its best weekly gain since January

Market participants are worried about a possible US war with Iran, but for now most are hoping for diplomacy

Oil, Walmart and asset managers spoil investor sentiment: stocks fell

Amazon.com, Inc.

Micron Technology, Inc.

An ETF tracking software developer stocks added 1.3% for the day

The S&amp;P 500 rose for the third day in a row. Investors are watching the Fed and the risks of war with Iran

Morgan Stanley

Netflix, Inc.

Amazon's stock drop was the longest in nearly 20 years

S&amp;P 500 posted its worst week since November: statisticians faced with AI fears

The Nasdaq is down 2%, the S&amp;P 500 is having its worst day in three weeks. Fear over AI is back

The Dow Jones blue-chip index ended trading on Tuesday, February 10, with a third consecutive record at the close. However, the dynamics was not positive for the whole market: S&amp;P 500 and Nasdaq Composite declined after two days of growth. Investors were reacting to weaker-than-expected retail sales data. Market concerns about the threat that artificial intelligence could pose to the financial sector also influenced sentiment.

Dow Jones set a record for the third straight day, S&amp;P 500 and Nasdaq resumed falling

U.S. retail sales in December 2025 unexpectedly remained flat in December, unchanged from November, indicating a slowdown in consumer spending and the economy as a whole ahead of 2026, Reuters <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-retail-sales-unexpectedly-flat-december-2026-02-10/">notes</a>. Economists surveyed by the agency had expected a 0.4% increase in retail sales in December - a measure that mainly reflects sales of goods and is not adjusted for inflation.

U.S. retail sales in December fell short of expectations. What this means for the economy

Caterpillar Inc.

Broadcom Inc.

Palantir Technologies Inc.

Oracle Corporation

The bull market is not dead, but aging, according to investment firm Bellwether Wealth

Dow Jones Industrial Average