Global stock markets have enjoyed some relative calm in recent sessions, as the violent sector-by-sector sell-offs of early February that wiped billions of dollars from the value of global companies have subsided.
The recent bout of volatility began with a rout in software stocks, as investors questioned whether AI was about to disrupt business models across the industry. Panicked selling soon spread to other sectors including wealth management, real estate and advertising.
But in the past few trading sessions, the market mood has turned more sanguine. US stock indices have pared back some of their losses, ticking higher in the past week, and single-stock volatility has declined. BlackRock analysts this week described the episode as “indiscriminate selling” and said “the broad software sell-off shows how markets can miss nuances in the near term”.