CNBC’s Jim Cramer on Thursday marveled at the disparate fortunes of technology stocks — hardware winners and software losers — and suggested this situation could persist for some time.
This division was one of the main themes of the 2026 market until the outbreak of the Iran war on February 28th. And now, even though the conflict is paused in a “fragile ceasefire,” the trade of buying hardware and selling software is back in full force, Kramer said.
“I’m talking about hardware stocks and enterprise software empires that are being disrupted by AI,” the “Mad Money” host said. “This technology war has fascinated Wall Street more than the actual Iran war.”
Kramer said Thursday’s market trends paint a clear picture.
Notice the performance degradation for software names. sales force and adobe They fell nearly 3% and 4%, respectively. Cramer said the session was down more than 4%. IGV Software ETFthe fact that it is the benchmark for the sector was also a good indicator of investor sentiment. “This ETF is the primary way large institutions bet on software and bet on software,” he added. This also means that even non-traditional software stocks like cybersecurity are hurting just because they’re in the fund. Case in point: cloud strike It fell 7.5% on Thursday.
The other side of the deal is hardware.
Kramer said the companies behind the large-scale development of data centers and AI infrastructure are “disrupting” companies. semiconductor player marvel technology and intel Both rose nearly 5% during the session. shares of corningThe company, which manufactures materials for data centers, rose 2.85%.
“When you’re in the software camp, you’re treated like you’re ready to be embalmed,” Kramer said. “If you’re in the hardware and AI camp, you’re headed for a great temple.”
Kramer said this trend doesn’t appear to be changing anytime soon. “That’s the bottom line. Tomorrow we’ll probably go back to the global story of war or peace in the Middle East,” he said, nodding to the conflict-driven stock market dynamics that have captivated the entire market for the past five weeks.
Mr. Kramer continued. “But for now, it’s just another day when hardware beats software like Cain killed Abel, and all I can do is get used to it.”
