Wall Street Wants You Scared — Here's Why...

The S&P 500 software sector is down 27% this year despite companies reporting some of their strongest results ever — and that contradiction is not an accident. Wall Street flipped the AI narrative to shake out retail investors, but the fundamentals tell a very different story than the fear.‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­‌   ­

­ Hey Folks,   Heading into 2026, the S&P 500 had just come off three consecutive years of 15%-plus returns — a total return of 86% across 2023, 2024, and 2025. Goldman Sachs projected a 12% total return for the year. JP Morgan Wealth Management called for 13-15%. The mood was overwhelmingly bullish. And then the music stopped. Not because of earnings. Not because of a recession. The narrative switched. The story Wall Street had been selling about AI did a complete 180, and the fallout has been swift. The S&P 500 software sector has cratered roughly 27% since the start of the year. Palantir is down about 22%. Salesforce, ServiceNow, and others have shed 25-33%.  The kicker is that these companies are reporting strong results with virtually no weakness. But the market no longer cares — because the narrative has completely changed. Understanding what is actually happening behind the curtain is the difference between being exploited by this cycle and exploiting it! The Three Triggers Behind the Sell-Off Three catalysts converged to create the current wave of fear: 1. The software apocalypse — Some are calling it the SaaS apocalypse. Software stocks have been obliterated despite reporting strong earnings. The narrative being sold is that it does not matter how much money an AI company makes because the new fear is that AI will be so disruptive it replaces the need for these products entirely. 2. The AI disruption contagion — What started in software spread to wealth management, insurance, real estate services, logistics, and payment processors like Visa and Mastercard. In roughly 10 days in early February, investors delivered swift beatdowns to companies across all of these sectors on the fear that AI could make entire industries obsolete. 3. The Citrini research report — On February 22nd, Citrini Research published what has become one of the most viral financial documents in recent memory. Titled "The 2028 Global Intelligence Crisis," it was a fictional memo describing a world where AI succeeds so well it breaks the economy — unemployment at 10.2%, the S&P 500 down 38%, and mass white-collar layoffs. It was a thought experiment, but it became the exact fodder narrative pushers needed. How the Narrative Machine Works Wall Street's narrative playbook has been running for over a century, and the current AI fear cycle follows the same pattern.  The mechanics are straightforward: 1. Big funds take a position — Prominent investors and hedge funds go short, then start broadcasting the thesis publicly. The more convincing the argument, the more it spreads. 2. Echo chamber effect — Once the message hits critical mass, articles start trending, social media amplifies it, and retail investors panic-sell quality companies at steep discounts. 3. Emotional exploitation — Retail investors respond to where a stock is trading rather than what a company is worth. Wall Street uses price action itself as the most powerful fear tool. 4. The flip — Once enough weak hands are shaken out, the same funds cover their shorts, buy back in at depressed prices, and ride the next wave up. The core argument being sold — that AI companies are too successful too fast and must be sold — assumes the alternatives would perform better in that same world and that a thought experiment about 2028 is a certainty. The Disconnect Between Fear and Fundamentals The numbers tell a very different story than the narrative. Nvidia just reported fiscal Q4 results that demolished expectations: ✔️ Revenue — $68.1 billion for the quarter, up 73% year over year. Full fiscal year revenue hit $215.9 billion, up 65% from the prior year. ✔️ Earnings — EPS of $1.62, blowing past the $1.53 consensus estimate. Net income for the full year exceeded $120 billion. ✔️ Data center dominance — Data center revenue reached $62.3 billion for the quarter, up 75% year over year. ✔️ Forward guidance — Nvidia guided $78 billion in Q1 revenue, well ahead of even the most bullish analysts on Wall Street. Jensen Huang stated on the earnings call that computing demand is growing exponentially and customers are racing to invest. He called the idea that AI would destroy the software industry the most illogical thing in the world. Citadel's Response Dismantled the Doom Case Citadel Securities published a macro strategy report that systematically took apart the fear narrative, and the key points cut deep: ✔️ Jobs data contradicts the thesis — Citrini's report assumes software and consulting jobs are collapsing, but actual data from Indeed shows demand for software engineers is rising, up 11% year over year in early 2026. ✔️ Technology follows an S-curve — Adoption does not compound infinitely and instantaneously. Energy constraints, compute limitations, and organizational timelines all create friction. The idea that AI replaces 50% of white-collar workers by 2028 requires ignoring every historical precedent of how technology diffuses through an economy. ✔️ Complement, not substitute — Citadel posed the rhetorical question: was Microsoft Office a complement or substitute for office workers? The answer is obvious. There is a strong case that AI will follow the same pattern on a much larger scale. Disruption is coming — nobody disputes that. But the idea that historically discounted AI names reporting triple-digit sales growth with expanding margins are never coming back is a narrative built to shake out weak hands, not a reflection of reality.  These fear cycles come and go, and they create better buying opportunities for investors focused on the next two, five, and ten years rather than the next two weeks.  With catalysts like money printing, potential stimulus, and midterm-year tailwinds ahead in 2026, the current fear cycle appears to be exactly what history suggests — temporary. Anyways... That's all for now! Until Next Time, -ZT Team  P.S. Want our text alerts? Text "ZIPTRADER" to 1-(855)-228-1598 to sign up!  (standard carrier data/text rates apply) ZIPTRADER LLC 5101 SANTA MONICA BLVD STE 8 #62, 90029, LOS ANGELES, CA This email was sent to ignoble.experiment@arconati.us BY READING THIS EMAIL & ALL ZIPTRADER CONTENT YOU AGREE: This is not financial advice. 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