European markets closed lower on Wednesday, February 10, 2026, as concerns surrounding the impact of artificial intelligence weighed on software and asset management firms.
European bourses finished the morning session in negative territory, with selling pressure concentrated in the software and asset management sectors. Investors are reassessing risks related to potential disruption to existing business models from new artificial intelligence tools. Milan led the declines, falling 0.9%, pressured by losses in the financial sector. Paris followed with a 0.5% decrease, and Frankfurt shed 0.4%. London bucked the trend, posting a gain of 0.4% thanks to strength in the energy and mining sectors. Futures on Wall Street were uncertain as investors awaited labor market data to inform their expectations regarding potential interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve, following weaker-than-expected retail sales figures released yesterday.
Asset management firms faced significant headwinds. The sell-off was triggered by Altruist’s announcement of a new tax planning service on its Hazel artificial intelligence platform, available to companies regardless of whether they custody assets with Altruist. On the Milan Stock Exchange, asset management stocks plummeted, with Fineco down 7.7%, Banca Generali falling 7.2%, Mediolanum declining 6.4%, and Azimut dropping 4.4%. Broader financial stocks as well suffered, including MPS (-3.1%), Nexi (-2.7%) – whose price target was cut by Equita – Intesa (-2.2%), Generali (-2.1%), and Mediobanca (-1.9%).
