{"id":59008,"date":"2026-02-23T23:38:32","date_gmt":"2026-02-24T03:38:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/global-markets-software-stocks-slump-on-ai-fears-while-chinas-tech-sector-rallies\/59008\/"},"modified":"2026-02-23T23:38:32","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T03:38:32","slug":"global-markets-software-stocks-slump-on-ai-fears-while-chinas-tech-sector-rallies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/global-markets-software-stocks-slump-on-ai-fears-while-chinas-tech-sector-rallies\/59008\/","title":{"rendered":"Global Markets: Software Stocks Slump on AI Fears While China\u2019s Tech Sector Rallies"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>Key Takeaways<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Wall Street is aggressively selling off software stocks<\/strong> as investors fear that advanced AI tools, such as <strong>Anthropic\u2019s Claude<\/strong>, will disrupt traditional SaaS business models and erode profit margins.<\/li>\n<li><strong>China\u2019s ChiNext Index surged 2%<\/strong>, leading a broader rally in Chinese growth stocks as domestic sentiment improves despite volatility in neighboring Hong Kong markets.<\/li>\n<li><strong>The New Zealand Dollar (<a href=\"\/stock\/NZD\">NZD<\/a>) climbed above 0.5950<\/strong>, capitalising on a weakening US Dollar driven by renewed uncertainty over <strong>President <a href=\"https:\/\/thestockmarketwatch.com\/live\/trump-stock-market\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"8\" title=\"Trump\">Trump<\/a>\u2019s<\/strong> proposed 15% global tariffs.<\/li>\n<li><strong>EUR\/JPY remains technically resilient<\/strong>, holding support above the <strong>nine-day Exponential Moving Average (EMA)<\/strong> near <strong>182.50<\/strong>, suggesting a persistent bullish bias for the Euro against the Yen.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Canva is accelerating its M&amp;A strategy<\/strong> to challenge established incumbents like Adobe (<a href=\"\/stock\/ADBE\">ADBE<\/a>), signaling a consolidation phase in the creative software industry.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Software Sector Faces &quot;AI Disruption&quot; Sell-Off<\/h2>\n<p>Wall Street has begun &quot;punishing&quot; traditional software giants as the market pivots from AI enthusiasm to fears of industry-wide displacement. Investors are increasingly concerned that new AI-native tools can perform complex tasks at a <em>fraction of the cost<\/em> of legacy platforms. Major players including Salesforce (<a href=\"\/stock\/CRM\">CRM<\/a>), Adobe (<a href=\"\/stock\/ADBE\">ADBE<\/a>), and Intuit (<a href=\"\/stock\/INTU\">INTU<\/a>) have faced significant downward pressure as their &quot;defensible&quot; moats are questioned.<\/p>\n<p>In contrast to the public market retreat, private design giant <strong>Canva<\/strong> is becoming more acquisitive, seeking to bolster its AI capabilities and expand its enterprise footprint. This aggressive expansion comes as the <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/stockmarketwatch.com\/markets\/sp500\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"3\" title=\"snp500 today\">S&amp;P 500<\/a> software and services index<\/strong> recently lagged the broader benchmark by nearly <strong>24 percentage points<\/strong>, a gap not seen since the dot-com era. <em>Analysts suggest that only companies showing immediate, measurable ROI from AI integration, such as Palantir (<a href=\"\/stock\/PLTR\">PLTR<\/a>), are currently escaping the sector-wide rout.<\/em><\/p>\n<h2>China\u2019s ChiNext Leads Regional Gains<\/h2>\n<p>China\u2019s tech-heavy <strong>ChiNext Index<\/strong> rose <strong>2%<\/strong> on Tuesday, continuing a strong start to 2026 for mainland &quot;A-shares.&quot; The rally reflects a growing appetite for growth enterprises and &quot;Nasdaq-style&quot; technology firms in Shenzhen. While the <strong>Hang Seng Index<\/strong> in Hong Kong struggled with a <strong>2% decline<\/strong> in internet stocks, mainland markets remained buoyed by <em>ample liquidity and supportive domestic policy signals.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>The divergence between mainland China and Hong Kong markets highlights a shift toward domestic growth sectors. Sectors such as <strong>computing power hardware<\/strong> and <strong>chemical manufacturing<\/strong> remained active, with several firms hitting their daily <strong>10% upper limits<\/strong>. <em>Market strategists note that the ChiNext\u2019s performance is a key barometer for investor confidence in China\u2019s high-tech industrial upgrade.<\/em><\/p>\n<h2>Forex: NZD Gains on US Trade Ambiguity; EUR\/JPY Holds Support<\/h2>\n<p>The <strong>New Zealand Dollar<\/strong> drifted higher to trade near <strong>0.5965<\/strong>, supported by a retreating US Dollar. The Greenback faced pressure after the <strong>US Supreme Court<\/strong> struck down earlier emergency tariff frameworks, leading to a new proposal for a <strong>15% global levy<\/strong> under Section 122 of the Trade Act. This <em>policy volatility<\/em> has created a tailwind for risk-sensitive currencies like the &quot;Kiwi,&quot; even as the <strong>Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ)<\/strong> maintains an accommodative stance.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, the <strong>EUR\/JPY<\/strong> cross-currency pair continues to navigate a critical technical junction. The pair remains positioned above its <strong>nine-day EMA of 182.50<\/strong>, a level that has served as a dynamic floor for the recent uptrend. <em>Technical indicators suggest that as long as the Euro stays above this threshold, a retest of the January all-time high of 186.88 remains a possibility,<\/em> despite neutral momentum signals from the <strong>14-day RSI<\/strong>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Key Takeaways Wall Street is aggressively selling off software stocks as investors fear that advanced AI tools, such as Anthropic\u2019s 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