Global week ahead: Markets brace for more AI noise and ‘scare trading’

AI disruption jitters have ripped through global stock markets over the last couple of weeks, with sectors across the spectrum ending up in the crosshairs of investors looking to bet on which industry could be upended by the inevitable wave of agentic AI.

There will almost certainly be more of these moments this week, as some of the biggest names in AI take to the stage at an event in India.

Looking back at last week’s volatility could gives some clues for the trading week ahead, as the impact of a series of announcements from US-based AI giants played out from sector to sector, but also across the Atlantic.

In Europe, software companies suffered, including Dassault Systemes which saw its share post the biggest ever one-day drop, and RELX, a British analytics group which recorded its worst session decline since 1988.

Wealth managers also came under pressure, with names like St James’s Place, Aberdeen Group and Quilter all nursing deep losses.

In a recent note, UBS analysts said they believe that the AI-driven sell off reflects a “growing disruption is accelerating well beyond software,” warning that markets have only partially priced in the credit implications. The Swiss bank expects this risk to increase throughout 2026 and into 2027 in the U.S. and to a lesser extent in Europe.

On the other side of the debate, Dan Ives of Wedbush told Squawk Box Europe that the “software Armageddon is overblown,” saying that stalwarts like Salesforce and ServiceNow will be core participants of the AI revolution, rather than cannibalized by it.

This will all come sharply into focus this week as India prepares to host one of the year’s most significant AI summits. When the organizers called the event in New Delhi the “AI Impact Summit”, they may not have known how literally the markets would be taking that at this very moment in time.

The event has attracted thousands of attendees and the line-up does not disappoint. Headliners include Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, Microsoft‘s Brad Smith, Mistral AI co-Founder Arthur Mensch and Meta‘s Chief AI Officer Alexandr Wang. CNBC’s Arjun Kharpal, who will be covering the event, says to “expect a number of big deals, partnerships and customer announcements from tech companies in the India market. Think cloud deals, AI infrastructure and collaborations between government and tech firms. Tech giants are attracted to the large, tech-forward customer base that India presents as well as the huge pool of engineering talent. So expect Prime Minister Modi to roll out the red carpet to Big Tech and all the executives will be more than happy to walk down it.”

— CNBC’s Arjun Kharpal contributed to this report.