Futures-options traders work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange’s NYSE American (AMEX) in New York City, U.S., February 11, 2026.
Brendan McDermid | Reuters
Artificial intelligence is having a moment. And in markets, that usually means someone else is having a rough week.
The latest victims of the technology are real estate, trucking and logistics stocks, joining financial and software-as-a-service stocks in plunging on AI fears.
Office towers could soon be empty, according to Elon Musk, who made the comments on a podcast last week, as AI replaces workers. It’s a point echoed in an essay by OtherSide AI co-founder and CEO Matt Shumer, who argued that AI could eradicate entry-level, white-collar jobs. If fewer people clock in, fewer leases get signed.
In freight, the pressure was more concrete. AI company Algorhythm Holdings released a tool it claims allows operators to scale freight volumes by 300% to 400% without hiring more employees. That prospect was enough to send trucking and logistics stocks plummeting.
But AI isn’t hurting everyone’s bottom lines. Shares of Siemens ticked up during Thursday trading in Europe after the engineering giant raised its earnings outlook for fiscal year 2026.
“We believe that the impact in the real world, so in industrial manufacturing, designing of products or looking in the operations using AI will come faster than we expect,” CEO Roland Busch told CNBC’s “Europe Early Edition.”
AI aside, U.S.-listed shares of L’Oreal fell 7.3% overnight after the French cosmetics company missed expectations for full-year sales.
Meanwhile, the European Union on Thursday agreed to a plan to restructure the bloc’s economy to boost its competitiveness as global trade relationships fragment under the Trump administration.
It’s not just economics. The Munich Security Conference starts Friday, and Conference Chair Wolfgang Ischinger told CNBC that the international order has been rocked — which makes the EU’s overhaul more than a matter of money.
— CNBC’s Michelle Fox, Sarah Min, Holly Ellyatt and Hugh Leask contributed to this report.
What you need to know today
The U.S. signed a trade deal with Taiwan, which lowers tariffs on the island’s exports to 15%. In return, Taiwan will remove or reduce 99% of tariff barriers on U.S. goods, as well as provide “preferential market access” for U.S. industrial and agricultural exports.
Xiaomi’s electric YU7 SUV tops China sales in January, with 37,869 units sold, twice as many as Tesla’s 16,845 Model Y vehicles, according to data from the China Passenger Car Association. The Model Y, which was the best-selling model in December, plunged to 20th place in January.
The U.S.-China proxy battle over Panama Canal ports is set to intensify. Hong Kong’s CK Hutchison Holdings on Thursday threatened legal action against Danish shipping giant A.P. Moller-Maersk after Panamanian authorities tapped the group to temporarily take over operations of two strategic ports at either end of the Panama Canal.
Major U.S. benchmarks retreated Thursday, with the S&P 500 falling 1.57%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average losing 1.34% and the Nasdaq Composite slumping 2.03%. Apple shares fell over 5% and is down almost 4% year to date. Asia-Pacific markets fell Friday, with Japanese and Indian IT stocks falling.
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