What Happened?

A number of stocks jumped in the afternoon session after the technology sector rallied, pushing the Nasdaq near all-time highs, as investors cheered a potential de-escalation of geopolitical tensions in the Middle East amid a flurry of positive news in the artificial intelligence space. 

The broader market sentiment was lifted by expectations of a resolution to the U.S.-Iran conflict, which helped the S&P 500 cross the 7,000 mark. However, the tech sector saw particularly strong performance, driven by excitement around AI. Underscoring this trend, reports emerged that Uber is investing over $10 billion to acquire a fleet of autonomous vehicles. This move signals a major strategic shift for the company and highlights the massive capital flowing into AI-driven technologies, boosting confidence across the industry and affecting related players like Alphabet's Waymo and Tesla.

The stock market overreacts to news, and big price drops can present good opportunities to buy high-quality stocks.

Among others, the following stocks were impacted:

• Sales Software company Freshworks (NASDAQ: FRSH) jumped 5.8%. Is now the time to buy Freshworks? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free.
• Design Software company Procore Technologies (NYSE: PCOR) jumped 6%. Is now the time to buy Procore Technologies? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free.
• Advertising Software company PubMatic (NASDAQ: PUBM) jumped 9.8%. Is now the time to buy PubMatic? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free.

Zooming In On PubMatic (PUBM)

PubMatic’s shares are very volatile and have had 24 moves greater than 5% over the last year. In that context, today’s move indicates the market considers this news meaningful but not something that would fundamentally change its perception of the business.

The previous big move we wrote about was 6 days ago when the stock dropped 3% after reports of a ceasefire breach in the Middle East spiked market volatility as fears grew that a fragile U.S.-Iran truce would unravel. 

This tension was compounded by Anthropic’s launch of Managed Agents, autonomous AI systems that execute complex tasks. Traders were worried these would disrupt the traditional SaaS (Software as a Service) model, by replacing human-operated tools with more efficient AI workers. The sell-off intensified after short seller Michael Burry claimed (in a deleted social media post) Anthropic was "eating Palantir’s lunch." Burry’s comments highlighted the vulnerability of legacy platforms to Anthropic’s AI solutions.

PubMatic is up 12.7% since the beginning of the year, but at $9.69 per share, it is still trading 29.2% below its 52-week high of $13.67 from July 2025. Despite the year-to-date gain, investors who bought $1,000 worth of PubMatic’s shares 5 years ago would now be looking at only $179.12.

ONE MORE THING: The $21 AI Application Stock Wall Street Forgot. While Wall Street obsesses over who’s building AI, one company is already using it to print money. And nobody’s paying attention.

AI chip stocks trade at ridiculous valuations. This company processes a trillion consumer signals monthly using AI and trades at a third of the price. The gap won’t last. The institutions will figure it out. You need to see this first. Read the FREE Report Before They Notice.