New York, February 24, 2026, 05:37 EST — Premarket
- Shopify shares slid 7.1% Monday, marking their steepest single-day loss in weeks.
- Some traders chalked up the drop to a wider software selloff, blaming tariff jitters and fresh anxiety over AI-driven disruption.
- This week, investors are eyeing both the latest U.S. tariff developments and Nvidia’s results—another sentiment check for the markets.
Shopify Inc dropped 7.1% to finish at $117.28 on Monday, slipping to $115.88 at session lows, with investors moving out of software and other risk-heavy names.
Wall Street’s broader risk-off tone found the S&P 500’s software basket down 4.3%, with investors zeroing in on potential losers as AI tools proliferate. “Sell first, assess later,” said Tom Hainlin, national investment strategist at U.S. Bank Wealth Management. Reuters
Trade policy just got more complicated. Starting Tuesday, U.S. Customs and Border Protection set the tariff at 10%, but media outlets flagged the possibility of a 15% rate down the line. Deutsche Bank analysts pointed to President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address “tonight” as a potential source of guidance on what comes next. Reuters
Shopify dragged down the Canadian market as well. Tech shares on the TSX dropped 3.2% Monday—Shopify itself slumped 7.1%—with investors unsettled by the murky prospects for U.S. trade policy.
Since its last earnings report, the stock has reacted to broader swings in software sentiment. Back on Feb. 11, Shopify laid out a first-quarter revenue growth forecast in the low-30% range and unveiled plans for a share buyback of up to $2 billion. Still, market attention locked onto margins and persistent sector selling. D.A. Davidson’s Gil Luria described the result as “excellent.” Shopify President Harley Finkelstein put it this way: “the AI era has now reached commerce.” Reuters
Free cash flow margin, which tracks cash left after covering operating costs plus capital expenditures, has turned into a real flashpoint for growth stocks. Even slight shifts in cash generation forecasts can send valuations moving in a hurry.
No new company news landed Monday. Price-wise, the market just followed the tape—tariff headlines shifting, AI nerves high, and any software with a fat valuation caught little mercy.
Shopify investors are watching sentiment more than product rollouts right now. Uncertainty in Washington’s tariff direction—if it intensifies or just drags on—has traders bracing for continued strain on consumer-centric software and platforms that rely on consistent spending.
There’s also a flip side to the risk. Should tariffs roll out less aggressively than expected—or if the AI shakeup looks less like a tidal wave and more like a gradual shift—bargain hunters could jump back into battered growth stocks.
