MW These software stocks have turned things around and outperformed since the Iran war began

By Christine Idzelis

Many software stocks have 'staged a respectable turnaround,' says Deutsche Bank's Jim Reid.

CrowdStrike is among a handful of tech stocks that have outperformed since the Iran conflict broke out.

Some of the weakest areas of the market in 2026 have turned into outperformers since the Iran conflict began, according to Deutsche Bank Research.

"Almost every major global asset class - oil aside - has lost ground over the past two weeks," said Jim Reid, global head of macro and thematic research at Deutsche Bank Research, in a note emailed Tuesday. But "some of 2026's weakest performers have actually been among the recent outperformers," such as software stocks, said Reid, pointing to the chart below.

DEUTSCHE BANK RESEARCH

Many software stocks have "staged a respectable turnaround" from their lows seen before the Iran strikes started, with the conflict in the Middle East providing "an unexpected pause from the steadily building negative momentum for the sector," Reid wrote. "Earlier in 2026, fears around AI disrupting - or even obsoleting - software business models dominated the narrative," he noted, with the chart above highlighting software stocks that have "managed to claw back losses."

Among the software companies that outperformed since the Iran strikes began include CrowdStrike Holdings Inc. (CRWD), Datadog Inc. (DDOG), Palantir Technologies Inc. (PLTR), Intuit Inc. $(INTU)$, CoreWeave Inc. (CRWV), Oracle Corp. $(ORCL)$ and ServiceNow Inc. (NOW), the chart shows. As global markets shift amid surging oil prices sparked by the Iran conflict, crypto is another laggard of early 2026 that has seen recent rebound, including for ethereum (ETHUSD) and bitcoin (BTCUSD).

By contrast, investors' anxiety surrounding private credit has not vanished, with shares of asset managers that provide exposure to those areas - including Blow Owl Capital $(OWL)$, Ares Management Corp. $(ARES)$ and Blackstone (BX) - down since Feb. 27, according to Reid.

"Year to date, software and private market exposed names remain among the worst performers," he said. "But since the Iran conflict began, their paths have clearly split."

DEUTSCHE BANK RESEARCH

"My own view is that AI will indeed be revolutionary, but many of the claims around imminent mass job losses and widespread software obsolescence were overstated," Reid wrote. "Given that we're still several years away from knowing where AI ultimately settles, markets will have plenty of scope to run with shifting - and sometimes contradictory - narratives. We expect continued bouts of AI-related volatility, much of which will likely be difficult to rationalise"

Reid also captured some of the "dramatic market moves" amid surging oil prices in the two weeks through March 13 in the chart below, which he shared in an email on Monday.

DEUTSCH BANK RESEARCH

West Texas Intermediate crude oil prices (WBS00) have surged around 40% in March to trade around $94 a barrel on Tuesday morning, according to FactSet data, at last check. Brent (BRN00), the global benchmark for crude oil, has soared almost 40% this month to around $101 a barrel on Tuesday morning, FactSet data showed.

Stocks and bonds AGG in the U.S. have struggled in March amid fears that the surge in oil prices is fueling inflation pressures that will keep the Federal Reserve from cutting interest rates.

The S&P 500 SPX, Dow Jones Jones Industrial Average DJIA and Nasdaq Composite COMP were rising Tuesday morning, although all three major U.S. equities benchmarks remained in the red in March. The S&P was down more than 2% month to date based on Tuesday morning trading levels.

-Christine Idzelis

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March 17, 2026 12:49 ET (16:49 GMT)

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