Major U.S. bank and technology stocks fell sharply on Tuesday and Wednesday as investors weighed whether Meta Platforms' Muse personal AI agent could disrupt traditional banking, brokerage and search-driven businesses. JPMorgan Chase dropped 3.4%, marking its worst session in months; Wells Fargo fell 3.9%; Bank of America declined about 3%; and Citigroup lost roughly 2%, while the S&P 500 finished nearly flat. Brokerage stocks were hit harder, with Charles Schwab down more than 6% and LPL Financial down more than 7%.
The selloff comes ahead of Meta's Connect conference as Muse climbed to the top of Apple's U.S. App Store, helping Meta shares jump 11% on Monday. Investors are considering whether increasingly capable AI agents could change how consumers manage money, compare savings accounts, rates and investment products, and interact with banks. The concern is less about immediate disruption than about how consumer behavior could change as AI agents become more capable and potentially move money between providers.
Alphabet shares fell 3% on Wednesday after Meta chief AI officer Alexandr Wang said Muse can connect with everyday services including Gmail, Google Calendar and Google Docs. Wang added on X that Muse does not feed user data into advertising systems. The move reflects broader competitive questions around AI agents that can perform tasks directly for users, potentially reducing the need to access services through traditional browsers or search interfaces and challenging Alphabet's search-driven advertising business.
Alphabet also introduced two new Gemini 3.8 Flash text-to-speech models on Wednesday: Gemini 3.8 Flash TTS for creative applications and character development, and Gemini 3.8 Flash-Lite TTS for high-volume, cost-efficient applications. Meanwhile, Cathie Wood's ARK ETFs reduced their Alphabet holdings, with ARKQ and ARKX collectively selling 16,422 shares valued at $5.83 million.
Beyond AI, bank executives had already warned of slower growth. Wells Fargo finance chief Mike Santomassimo said growth across corporate banking, investment banking, cards and auto lending should continue but at a slower pace than the first half. Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan said third-quarter sales and trading revenue could remain strong but roughly flat compared with last year. The AI-related fears add another layer of uncertainty for financial services.
