Software stocks get a little breathing room

The fear trade is fading

Software stocks are catching a bid again, with names like Adobe, ServiceNow, Workday, and Salesforce popping up in the same sentence for a reason: investors are backing away from the idea that OpenAI instantly turns every software company into a relic.

What changed?

The market’s basically doing a quick vibe check. Instead of assuming AI = software apocalypse, traders are remembering that enterprise software still has sticky customers, workflow lock-in, and very expensive switching costs. In other words, the moat didn’t vanish just because a chatbot got smarter.

Why you should care

For Adobe specifically, this matters because the stock has been living under the shadow of “AI disruption” headlines for months. When that threat looks less scary, the multiple can breathe again.

• Less panic about AI eating software budgets overnight
• More room for legacy software names to re-rate
• A reminder that not every AI headline is a direct profit warning

Big picture: this is a sentiment story, not a new earnings miracle. But in market land, sentiment can move the tape faster than a product roadmap ever will.