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The world’s leading stock index had its worst day in almost two weeks on Monday after someone suggested you may one day need to own crypto to buy chicken al pastor.
We’ve written a couple of posts about the ‘Citrini sell-off’ already, and Rob Armstrong covered it with typical wisdom over on Unhedged. If you have no idea what’s going on, here’s Rob:
[F]ollowing the recent pattern, the shares of various companies that might be vulnerable to AI disintermediation fell — software, asset management and, joining the party for the first time, banks. The most popular explanation for the renewed jitters was a blog post from Citrini Research about how AI might get a lot of high earners fired and tank the economy.
And they say men don’t read fiction any more! https://t.co/PF122sIZMb
— Alys Key (@alys_key) February 24, 2026
What’s left to say? Nothing useful, so instead we cracked out the spreadsheets and calculated how markets have responded to various others bits of notable speculative fiction throughout history.
In the spirit of Citrini’s ‘The 2028 Global Intelligence Crisis’, we’ve focused on scenarios that might broadly be described as dystopian, though we can see arguments that some* are actually optimistic.
In each instance, we’ve tracked the daily move in the S&P 500 (post-1986) or Dow Jones Industrial Average (pre-1986) on the day the piece of media was released in the US, or the first trading day thereafter.
You may contend that this is facile. We would agree.
You might contend that the comparisons make no sense because it’s possible to read a blog post during a single work shift, but it’s tricker to complete a whole novel (or sneak out to watch a movie). We would contend: do you really think traders read?
Let’s begin.
Her (18th December 2013)
Her, set in a near-future Los Angeles, follows a lonely man who falls in love with ‘Samantha’, an AI agent. He eventually enters a verbal and then — through a surrogate — pseudo-physical sexual relationship with the AI. With the benefit of hindsight, this movie might well have been the blueprint for the current capabilities of most LLMs. The protagonist has a job, and does things like eat food, so everything seems to be ok, right?
Market daily change: +1.66% 📈
Nineteen Eighty-Four (8th June 1948)
Nineteen Eighty-Four is perhaps the best-known example of dystopian fiction, portraying a future version of Great Britain under a totalitarian state where neighbours snitch on each other and nobody has DoorDash. Author George Orwell described the novel as a warning about the dangers of a centralised economy, and tellingly the software-as-a-service sector goes unmentioned in the book, suggesting it has been totally eradicated.
Market daily change: +1.07% 📈
The Road (26th September 2006)
The Road depicts the journey of a man and his son as they cross a post-apocalyptic United States in search of safer climes. There’s no clear depiction of software in the movie, but the presence of roving bands of cannibals and one scene involving the young boy Enjoying™ Coca-Cola™ suggests that robust demand for consumer staples makes the sector a strong hedge for an end-of-days scenario.
Market daily change: +0.75% 📈
Something Big Is Happening (9th February 2026)
No analysis of speculative fiction could ignore ‘Something Big Is Happening”, a Big Tweet written by… a guy… earlier this month, which (also) went viral and allegedly rattled markets. The post is (also) broadly a warning about the potential impact of AI agents, but with less specific imaginary events. It warns “This might be the most important year of your career. Work accordingly.”, and yet here we are, shitposting again.
Market daily change: +0.47% 📈
Mad Max (12th April 1972)
OK, confession time, the specific component of the FT Alphaville gestalt writing this pointless listicle hasn’t seen the original Mad Max movie. The themes seem to be the same as the latest franchise entries, however: make sure to hold physical assets and you should be able to shrug off the worst that the near future can throw at you.
Market daily change: +0.45% 📈
The Terminator (26th October 1984)
Finally, a piece of speculative fiction potent enough to rattle stocks. The Terminator, although primarily set in the (then) present-day, shows a future in which a murderous AI is at war with humankind. Despite this horrific vision, it does seem to be a future in which high employment levels are maintained, with most humans working in military or healthcare roles. We assume the sell-off was driven by fears of Skynet displacing incumbents.
Market daily change: -0.61% 📉
Blade Runner (25th August 1982)
Another one for the “near-future LA” camp, Blade Runner (based on 1968’s Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?) depicted a world in which some people’s entire job is simply to clean up after bad robots, thereby accurately predicting the vibecoding trend. Outside of this, it shows a world in which the consumer discretionary sector seems to be doing fine, so we’re surprised stocks dipped.
Market daily change: -0.63% 📉
The 2028 Global Intelligence Crisis (22nd February 2026)
Landing among the most impactful upon daily market prices piece of speculative fiction ever written, The 2028 Global Intelligence Crisis depicts a horrifying future in which people are forced to think about Solana. Crazy fact: the S&P 500 has never fully recovered from the damage that this hard-hitting piece wrought.
Market daily change: -1.04% 📉
The Matrix (31st March 1999)
The US release of The Matrix, cleverly timed to coincide with end-of-quarter rebalancing, took a chunk off the S&P 500 as traders digested its depiction of a future in which humanity has unknowingly been enslaved and turned into living batteries after losing a war against artificial intelligence entities. Most disturbingly, these humans are hooked up to feeding tubes and trapped in pods, severely limiting their ability to make discretionary spending decisions.
Market daily change: -1.11% 📉
Coda: Chart including ones we left out because we couldn’t think of any jokes:
*Her and Planet of the Apes.
Further reading:
— FTAV Pub Quiz: Guess the movie from its financial plot, omnibus edition
