New York, Jan 15, 2026, 12:45 PM ET — Regular session
- Shopify shares climbed roughly 0.8% by midday, recovering some ground after a steep fall in Toronto the previous day.
- Investors are sizing up the company’s fresh “agentic commerce” integrations with Google and Microsoft shopping tools amid a shaky macroeconomic environment. 1
Shares of Shopify Inc climbed roughly 0.8% to $158.7 on Thursday, bucking a volatile market following a selloff in Canadian tech stocks the day before.
This matters because Shopify now acts as a high-beta barometer for risk appetite in software and online retail. When investors pull back from growth due to geopolitics or interest rates, the stock usually reacts quickly.
Wall Street found some footing Thursday, with tech and major indexes edging higher despite new U.S. data muddying the outlook for near-term rate cuts. 2
On Wednesday in Canada, Shopify dropped 5.9%, pulling the tech sector down 4.5%, despite the TSX closing at a record high. The gains were driven by energy and materials stocks, boosted by Iran-related geopolitical tensions. “A lot of what’s happening … is revolving around geopolitical risk,” noted Philip Petursson, chief investment strategist at IG Wealth Management. 3
Shopify has spent the past week pitching itself as the backbone for “agentic commerce” — where software agents guide shoppers through finding and completing purchases. The company highlighted a new Universal Commerce Protocol it claims to have co-developed with Google. 1
In a Jan. 11 blog post, Google explained that the protocol aims to cover the entire shopping journey. Shopify is named as a co-developer, alongside retailers and platforms such as Walmart, Target, Etsy, and Wayfair. 4
Shopify announced an update to its Microsoft Copilot integration, now featuring an embedded checkout experience. Tony Baldwin, CTO of retailer Alexander Del Rossa, called the integration of “Brand Agents” into its Shopify store “the best example of AI integration seen to date” in a separate Microsoft Advertising post. 5
These partnerships tighten the competitive landscape for Shopify as Alphabet and Microsoft race to embed more commerce within search and chat, forcing merchants and platforms to follow customers to where they begin their shopping. The benefit: expanded distribution. The catch: diminished control over the customer journey.
Still, the wager carries risks. AI-driven checkout tools remain in their infancy, and widespread uptake may be patchy. On top of that, Shopify is vulnerable to the common pitfalls of high-priced growth stocks if interest rates climb or consumer demand slows.
On Thursday, Shopify’s shares fluctuated between about $157.9 and $161.3, holding steady below its 52-week peak, per the company’s stock page. 6
The next key event for investors is the rate story: the Federal Reserve’s policy meeting on Jan. 27-28 will be a crucial moment for duration-sensitive tech stocks like Shopify. 7
