BUZZ-Online travel-linked stocks fall as investors assess Meta's Muse threat

Arun Sundaram, senior VP of investment strategy at CFRA, notes companies that rely on "consumer inertia" — a tendency of customers to keep buying the same product or using the same service out of habit — could be particularly vulnerable if AI agents make it easier to compare options.

Expedia EXPE.O drops 7.1% to $261, hitting a two-month low; EXPE announced on Tuesday a partnership with Muse.

Airbnb ABNB.O sheds 5.7% and Booking Holdings BKNG.O eases 4.4%, among the biggest decliners on the S&P 500 .SPX.

"Pressure to integrate with Muse (or other agentic channels) is not necessarily negative for BKNG or ABNB. However, it increases the importance of execution around potential future integrations," Morgan Stanley analysts say.

Shares of online travel-related companies fall as analysts assess threats from the rise of Meta Platform's META.O Muse AI assistant.

"It's obviously unclear how consumers will leverage these tools and how competitive the space will become, but Muse's innovative approach & disruptive potential for retail profit pools broadly will likely continue to be a significant overhang for multiples in marketplace stocks," RBC Capital Markets' equity analyst Brad Erickson says in a note.