New York, February 3, 2026, 14:44 ET — Regular session
- Intuit shares tumbled amid a wide selloff in software and data stocks, sparked by renewed concerns over AI-driven disruption.
- The decline follows Intuit’s announcement yesterday of a multi-year deal with Affirm to offer pay-over-time options through QuickBooks Payments.
- The next key event is Intuit’s fiscal second-quarter earnings, set for Feb. 26.
Intuit shares dropped almost 12%, hitting $429.20 by 2:44 p.m. ET on Tuesday. The stock fluctuated from a low of $427.26 to a high of $489.24 after starting the day at $469.50, with roughly 5.2 million shares changing hands.
Investors are now seeing long-time software winners as vulnerable to a fresh surge of artificial intelligence (AI) tools. This concern is shaking up portfolios, despite ongoing product launches and new partnerships from these companies.
A broad selloff in software and cloud stocks dragged U.S. indexes lower. The S&P 500 software and services index dropped roughly 4%, marking its fifth straight decline. Atlassian tumbled about 11%, while Adobe and Oracle also slipped, rattling traders ahead of Alphabet and Amazon earnings later this week. “Many areas, especially around AI, are priced for perfection,” noted John Campbell of Allspring Global Investments. (Reuters)
Traders and analysts highlighted a new AI development: Anthropic rolled out a legal plug-in for its Claude chatbot. “The software companies were assumed to be winners from AI,” noted Lars Skovgaard of Danske Bank. Giuseppe Sersale at Anthilia added, “Artificial intelligence is increasingly able to perform exactly the sort of programming and knowledge-based services.” (Reuters)
The stock dropped despite Monday’s news: Intuit announced a multi-year deal with Affirm to integrate pay-over-time options into QuickBooks Payments. This “buy now, pay later” feature allows customers to split their payments. David Hahn called it “a powerful new way to increase conversion and improve cash flow,” while Affirm’s Pat Suh described it as “another lever for growth.” (Intuit Inc.)
Intuit closed Monday down 2.37% at $487.12, marking its sixth consecutive day of losses, despite a rally in the S&P 500. The slide continued into Tuesday, intensifying the stock’s downward momentum. (MarketWatch)
Intuit’s latest small-business figures, published yesterday, showed a steadier picture: the QuickBooks Small Business Index reported a 17,500 increase in U.S. small business employment for January, while average real monthly revenue climbed 2.92% from December. (QuickBooks)
Intuit, known for tax-prep and small-business finance software, is often seen by traders as a barometer for tax-season demand and small-business trends. Payments and related services have also grown into a more significant part of its offering.
The AI scare cuts both ways. Should investors conclude that AI-driven tools will rapidly commoditize tasks like tax prep and bookkeeping—outpacing software firms’ ability to monetize new features—the sector’s valuation reset could still have further to run.
The next major event comes on Feb. 26, when Intuit releases its fiscal second-quarter results and holds a conference call at 4:30 p.m. EST. Investors will zero in on the guidance, plus any news on payments and how AI features are starting to generate revenue. (Intuit Inc.)
