New York, February 10, 2026, 11:34 (EST) — Regular session
ServiceNow climbed 3.6% to $107.66 late Tuesday morning, bouncing between $102.96 and $108.95. The workflow software maker, trading on the NYSE, remains a sector bellwether as tech stocks attempt to recover from last week’s sharp drop.
Why does the bounce matter? Software stocks have taken a hit as investors fret that rapid-fire AI tools might eat away at the old-school subscription model. Over the past three months, software and services shares have trailed the S&P 500 by almost 24 percentage points. ServiceNow alone tumbled more than 40% between the sector’s late-October high and early February, according to Reuters analysis. Options action hasn’t settled down either—implied volatility for the iShares tech-software ETF remains high, short interest hovering close to all-time highs, per the report.
Still, retail investors aren’t backing away. Net inflows into BlackRock’s iShares Expanded Tech-Software ETF reached a new high of $176 million on a rolling one-month basis as of Monday’s close, Vanda Research data showed, per Reuters. The S&P 500 software and services index has shed about 13% since late January, erasing nearly $1 trillion in market cap through last Thursday.
Tech stocks bounced back Monday, lifting the mood across the sector. The S&P 500 software services index climbed 2.9%, its second day of gains as it worked off earlier losses. “A little bit of good news can go a long way,” said Keith Lerner, chief investment officer at Truist Advisory Services, who described tech and software names as “sharply oversold.” Oracle rallied after D.A. Davidson bumped the stock up to “buy,” fueling talk of bargain hunters stepping in. Reuters
Tuesday brought a mixed session in broader markets as retail sales numbers out of the U.S. landed flat for December—unexpected, and hinting at a possible economic slowdown heading into the new year. “It’s really the retail sales data… driving some of the weakness,” said Charlie Ripley, vice president of portfolio management at Allianz Investment Management. Investors are looking at a busy stretch of economic reports this week, plus comments scheduled later today from Federal Reserve officials Beth Hammack and Lorie Logan. Reuters
Part of the recent mood change traces back to earnings from players within the sector. Shares of Datadog surged after the company topped fourth-quarter expectations, thanks to solid demand for its cloud security products as generative AI gains traction. But, its forecast for the full year disappointed. That split in signals has kept investors ready to react to headline moves.
The AI-driven shakeup is starting to seep into credit markets, not just stocks. In a recent note, Morgan Stanley flagged that software accounts for about $235 billion of the $1.5 trillion U.S. loan market—most of it linked to lower-rated borrowers facing a looming “maturity wall” as debts come due over the next few years. “We expect continued price volatility in loans, but a near-term spike in defaults is unlikely,” the bank said. Reuters
ServiceNow faces a tangled landscape as it dives deeper into AI and pursues more acquisitions. Late last month, the company projected annual subscription revenue ahead of what analysts had expected, and its board signed off on another $5 billion for buybacks, including a $2 billion accelerated repurchase. “ServiceNow is growing both organically and by acquisition to expand its market opportunity,” said Rebecca Wettemann, CEO of Valoir, in the same report. Reuters
Whether Tuesday’s bounce marks a real shift or just a breather remains to be seen. Right now, investors are caught between strong appetite for workflow automation and the threat that AI agents might undercut the need for classic software seats—a tension that’s been making even ordinary moves look dramatic.
Two key U.S. macro reports are coming up after recent adjustments to the schedule: January’s employment numbers land Wednesday, Feb. 11 at 8:30 a.m. EST, with the January CPI following on Friday, Feb. 13, also at 8:30 a.m. EST.
