Agents are "reshaping" the service industry! Muse reignites "panic," and financial stocks are caught in the crossfire.

Meta's consumer-grade AI agent Muse topped the Apple App Store in downloads, sparking renewed concerns on Wall Street about AI disrupting the financial services industry, and causing bank and brokerage stocks to suffer their biggest single-day drop in months.

On September 22, the US financial sector suffered a sharp decline, with the S&P 500 financial sector falling by about 2%, dragging the broader market to close virtually flat.

Brokerage firms Charles Schwab and LPL Financial each fell more than 6%. JPMorgan Chase fell 3.4%, its biggest one-day drop since July; Wells Fargo fell 3.9%, its biggest drop since May; Bank of America and Citigroup fell 3% and 2%, respectively.

Insurer Allstate and travel booking platform Booking Holdings were also affected.

The market's core concern is that once AI agents like Muse become widespread, they will erode traditional business models that rely on consumer behavior patterns— from wealth management and brokerage services to insurance pricing—all of which face the risk of being bypassed or even replaced.

Analysts point out that the scope and intensity of this sell-off far exceed the market volatility caused by similar events earlier this year.

Muse's chart-topping success has impacted consumer habits.

Muse officially launched on September 8th, and within six days of its release, it was downloaded more than 902,000 times, quickly topping the charts for free apps on Apple's US iOS and Google Play.

This application can complete digital tasks on behalf of users, enabling cross-platform operation by integrating with third-party services such as Gmail and OpenTable, and has already established partnerships with PayPal and fintech company Plaid.

Devin Ryan, head of financial services and fintech research at Citizens, points out that while no AI agent can disrupt the entire industry overnight, the flurry of product launches in recent months has "created a narrative in the market that the world is changing and uncertainty is rising."

The threat posed by AI agents to financial institutions goes far beyond replacing human advisors or diverting premiums from other channels. Its true disruptive potential lies in its ability to automatically compare prices, switch services, and manage bills for users. This directly undermines business models that rely on "consumer inertia" —where users tend to maintain their existing consumption habits when they lack the initiative to make decisions.

In a research report, Goldman Sachs noted that as AI agents continue to improve their capabilities in price comparison, travel booking, and customer service interaction, industries that rely on recurring bills, negotiable pricing, and ancillary services, such as telecommunications, insurance, and utilities, will be the first to feel the pressure.

Goldman Sachs' "consumer inertia" risk basket fell 2.6% on Tuesday, its worst performance in nearly six months, with a cumulative decline of over 7% in the past six trading days. The Goldman Sachs risk basket includes stocks such as AT&T, T-Mobile, Allstate, Progressive, Netflix, Paramount Skydance, Expedia, and Booking.

Wayve Asset Management Chief Strategist Rhys Williams stated:

Muse is undoubtedly a negative factor for companies like this. Right now it's more of a novelty, but I think we'll all be using proxies in two years.

Securities firms and wealth management companies are the first to be affected.

In this sell-off, brokerage stocks suffered even greater losses. Charles Schwab fell over 6%, LPL Financial dropped over 7%, and Raymond James and Ameriprise Financial also saw significant declines.

Devin Ryan, head of financial services and fintech research at Citizens, explained that the threat is not limited to AI replacing human advisors and reducing fee structures.

In his view, intelligent agents could potentially perform fund allocation operations such as tax loss recovery more efficiently for clients, thereby reducing the time funds remain idle in brokerage accounts and limiting the opportunities for these companies to convert clients' idle funds into their own profits. Ryan stated:

If an agent optimizes asset allocation around the clock, will the system's accumulated cash balance be depleted?

It's worth noting that this isn't the first time such a panic has occurred. Earlier this year, fintech company Altruist triggered a similar sell-off when it launched a personalized tax strategy tool; and in February, Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) stocks also experienced a sharp decline after Anthropic released its Claude proxy tool.

However, analysts believe that with the existing user base of billions of Meta's various applications, Muse has a wider potential impact and a faster penetration rate.

Bank stocks are under pressure due to a combination of fundamental concerns.

In addition to the impact of AI agents, the banking industry's own fundamentals are also facing challenges.

According to Wall Street News , Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan stated that third-quarter sales and trading revenue "will be one of our best third quarters ever, but will be roughly flat compared to last year."

Wells Fargo CFO Mike Santomassimo stated at a Barclays financial industry conference last week that core business growth, such as lending, will continue, but the pace is expected to slow compared to the first half of the year. These remarks triggered a broader pullback in bank stocks last week.

Against the backdrop of the Federal Reserve's interest rate hike cycle, the flattening yield curve has further compressed banks' interest rate spreads.

Multiple perspectives: Disruption is both an opportunity and a threat.

Faced with market panic, some investors and consultants cautioned against excessive pessimism.

Alois Pirker, founder of wealth management consulting firm Pirker Partners, said that large financial institutions possess a wealth of customer data, giving them an inherent advantage in technological transformation . "This is a huge opportunity for these institutions," he said, but transformation takes time. "After all, you can't turn an ocean liner around overnight."

Last week, Anthropic launched a Claude workflow toolkit, which is already integrated with platforms such as Schwab and Vanguard. In an email, Macrae Sykes, portfolio manager at Gabelli Funds, wrote, "If Schwab can use this to serve its advisors, improve the quality of its advice, and increase asset acquisition efficiency, the company will ultimately benefit through custody, client engagement, and other areas."

Goldman Sachs strategists, however, were more cautious: "This is still far more complex and nuanced than 'buying everything AI.'"

With Anthropic and OpenAI successively launching lower-cost cutting-edge models, the next wave of AI may not just be a few labs building ultra-large-scale computing clusters, but rather driven by billions of dispersed intelligent agents.

This will reshape the landscape of demand for AI infrastructure, and the financial industry will continue to face pressure and adapt in this process.

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