$285 billion loss! Anthropic AI tool triggers sharp selloff in US markets, software companies hit

A new AI automation tool from Anthropic PBC sparked a $285 billion rout in stocks across the software, financial services and asset management sectors on Tuesday as investors raced to dump shares with even the slightest exposure.

A Goldman Sachs basket of US software stocks sank 6%, its biggest one-day decline since April’s tariff-fueled selloff, while an index of financial services firms tumbled almost 7%. The Nasdaq 100 Index fell as much as 2.4% at one point before trimming losses to 1.6%.

The selloff started before the US market opened as traders pointed to a release on the Anthropic website as the reason behind steep declines in the shares of credit and marketing services company Experian Plc, business and legal software maker RELX PLC and the London Stock Exchange Group Plc.

Thomson Reuters Corp. and Legalzoom.com Inc. were among the worst performers in the US and Canada, pushing the iShares Expanded Tech-Software Sector ETF down 4.6%, its sixth consecutive day of declines. The ETF is coming off a 15% plunge in January, its worst month since 2008.

“This year is the defining year whether companies are AI winners or victims, and the key skill will be in avoiding the losers,” said Stephen Yiu, CIO of Blue Whale Growth Fund. “Until the dust settles, it’s a dangerous path to be standing in the way of AI.”

Shares of business development companies were caught in the selling, with Blue Owl Capital Corp. falling as much as 13% for a record ninth-straight decline that dragged the stock to the lowest since 2023. Fears of disruption have rattled credit globally, sending software loans in the broadly syndicated market lower last week. As publicly traded entities, BDCs provide a real-time window into the otherwise opaque direct-lending market.

Ares Management Corp., KKR & Co. and TPG Inc. each fell by more than 10% at one point, while Apollo Global Management Inc. and Blackstone Inc. dropped by as much as 8%.

Anthropic is part of a rash of AI startups developing tools for the legal industry. Long before Anthropic’s plugin, startups including Legora and Harvey AI were flooding the legal industry with tools they say will save lawyers from grunt work. Investors have been pouring money into AI products for the legal industry for more than two years. Harvey AI was valued at $5 billion in June, and Legora raised funds at a $1.8 billion valuation in October.

Anthropic stands in contrast, however, in that it builds its own models that can be customized for an industry’s specific needs. Its position in the AI ecosystem as a major model developer gives it the unique advantage of disrupting both traditional legal news and data services as well as legal AI upstarts. Firms like Legora rely on the underlying models from developers like Anthropic.

On its website of plugins, Anthropic included a legal tool that it says can automate work like contract reviewing and legal briefings. “All outputs should be reviewed by licensed attorneys,” according to the website.

“Anthropic launched new capabilities for its Cowork to the legal space, heightening competition,” Morgan Stanley analysts including Toni Kaplan wrote in a note on Thomson Reuters, the provider of business and legal information. “We view this as a sign of intensifying competition, and thus a potential negative.”

Another Anthropic release in January — of its Claude Cowork tool — boosted jitters for investors who have been monitoring the software sector for AI-related risks to its businesses for months. Other companies have also released products exacerbating the selloff; video-game stocks were caught up in the slide last week after Alphabet Inc. began to roll out Project Genie, which can create immersive worlds with text or image prompts.

There are other signs that software companies are lagging their tech sector peers. So far this earnings season, just 71% of software companies in the S&P 500 have beaten revenue expectations, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. That compares with 85% for the overall tech sector.

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