As you are using the [product_categories] shortcode, you query for taxonomy / terms, and not posts. Other than posts, terms can not be ordered using date, as terms did not save the date they were added or modified.
When you are querying for terms you can use the following orderby parameters:
- name – Default
- count
- slug
- term_group
- term_order
- term_id
- none
Take a look at WP_Term_Query parameters in the codex.
So no, you cannot order terms by date.
Also I cannot tell you if the WC shortcode supports all these orderby parameters from the get go.