What Happened?
Shares of cloud security platform Zscaler (NASDAQ: ZS) jumped 5.4% in the afternoon session after solid economic data, including a beat on consumer confidence boosted sentiment.
The positive reports fueled a "Turnaround Tuesday" relief rally across the market, with the technology sector among the leaders. The Conference Board's Consumer Confidence Index rose to 91.2 in February, indicating a more optimistic outlook from consumers about income and business conditions.
Also, a recent announcement from Anthropic regarding new collaborative tools for its Claude AI agent software helped calm investor nerves. The company's move to expand its AI tools into sectors like human resources and investment banking signals a potential for partnership rather than replacement. This shift in sentiment was reflected in the market, with the iShares Expanded Tech-Software Sector ETF surging 2.4% as investors bought back into beaten-down software stocks.
After the initial pop the shares cooled down to $150.11, up 4.8% from previous close.
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What Is The Market Telling Us
Zscaler’s shares are quite volatile and have had 15 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 1 day ago when the stock dropped 10.7% on the news that the White House announced plans to raise global tariffs to 15%. The major stock indexes, including the S&P 500 and Nasdaq, also sank amid the uncertainty. The downturn came after President Trump announced the tariff increase in a post on Truth Social, stating the new rate would be effective immediately on countries that had been, in his words, "'ripping' the U.S. off for decades." The move sparked concern among trade partners, with Europe warning that such tariffs could put U.S. trade deals at risk. The market-wide slide reflected investor worries about the potential impact of these new global trade policies Additionally, investor concerns about disruption in the software industry from advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) continued to cause a sector-wide sell-off. The market started the week with a more cautious tone, reflecting this unease. The current wave of AI development was seen as having similar traits to previous tech cycles, marked by genuine innovation but also by exuberant expectations and sharp market reactions to new developments.
Zscaler is down 31.9% since the beginning of the year, and at $150.11 per share, it is trading 55.4% below its 52-week high of $336.27 from November 2025. Investors who bought $1,000 worth of Zscaler’s shares 5 years ago would now be looking at an investment worth $722.37.
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