Why are investors turning away from AI stocks?

Why are defensive stocks outperforming AI stocks in 2026? Russ Mould examines the changing fortunes of global stock market sectors and what they reveal about investor sentiment.

While major indices such as the S&P 500, FTSE 100 and Nikkei 225 remain close to recent highs, there is significant activity beneath the surface. Investors are increasingly favouring defensive sectors such as Healthcare and Consumer Staples, while some of the biggest names associated with the AI trade are facing changing market sentiment.

In this week's AJ Bell investment analysis, Russ Mould explores:

• Why Energy remains one of the strongest-performing stock market sectors.
• How Healthcare and Consumer Staples have moved up the performance rankings.
• What the relative weakness of Technology and Consumer Discretionary could tell us about investor confidence.
• Why understanding index composition matters when choosing passive funds and ETFs.
• How uncertainty around AI companies' capital expenditure plans could affect the wider technology sector.
• What oil prices and crack spreads might reveal about future economic conditions and energy demand.
• What the MOVE and VIX volatility indices tell us about current market nervousness.

Russ also explains why investors should look beyond headline stock market performance and pay attention to changing sector trends.