Anthropic Claude Opus 4.6 Release Triggers Stock Market Sell-Off in Financial Data Sector

TLDR

• Anthropic unveiled Claude Opus 4.6 Thursday, causing immediate stock market reactions in financial data and software sectors
• FactSet Research Systems dropped 9.1% while S&P Global fell 4.2% following the AI model announcement
• The new model outperforms OpenAI GPT-5.2 and Google Gemini 3 Pro on industry benchmarks
• Claude Opus 4.6 can complete coding projects in hours and analyze complex financial data
• Software stocks continue 2026 decline with Salesforce down 25% and SAP falling 18% year-to-date

Anthropic launched its Claude Opus 4.6 AI model Thursday afternoon, sparking immediate declines across financial services and software company stocks. The AI firm described the release as its most advanced model for enterprise and knowledge work.

Financial data companies bore the brunt of investor concerns. FactSet Research Systems shares fell 9.1% on Thursday. S&P Global and Moody’s dropped 4.2% and 3.3% respectively.

Nasdaq declined 3.7% after the announcement. The company operates both as a stock exchange and data provider. Software companies already under pressure in 2025 saw additional losses.

Salesforce has fallen 25% since January 1st. SAP shares dropped 18% over the same timeframe. Intuit declined 32% while Thomson Reuters fell 30%.

The WisdomTree Cloud Computing Fund lost more than 20% year-to-date. Investors fear AI platforms will replace traditional software services. CEO Dario Amodei told CNBC that enterprise customers represent roughly 80% of Anthropic’s business.

AI Model Performance and Features

Claude Opus 4.6 builds on its predecessor Claude Opus 4.5 with enhanced capabilities. The model conducts research, creates documents, and generates files. Anthropic claims it delivers “production-ready quality” on first attempts.

This reduces iterative changes to documents, spreadsheets, and presentations. Company benchmarks show Opus 4.6 outperforms OpenAI’s GPT-5.2 and Google’s Gemini 3 Pro. The model ranked first on the Finance Agent benchmark for financial analyst tasks.

The AI can work across dozens of tools simultaneously while correcting errors. It analyzes financial data including regulatory filings, market reports, and internal documents. For coding tasks, Opus 4.6 completes projects in hours that typically take days.

The model handles planning, code review, and debugging in large codebases. It extracts relevant information from extensive document collections. Scott White, Anthropic’s head of product for enterprise, noted the transformation in AI capabilities.

Market Competition and Integration

The launch came hours after OpenAI announced its Frontier platform. OpenAI’s system deploys AI agents that interact with existing software. The timing underscores competition between the two companies.

Anthropic released the model days after unveiling enterprise plugins for Claude Cowork. These plugins handle productivity, legal, sales, and marketing tasks. Claude now integrates with Microsoft PowerPoint in a research preview.

Users can create presentations through prompts. Anthropic already works with SharePoint, OneDrive, Outlook, and Teams. The company plans a Super Bowl ad Sunday that criticizes OpenAI’s advertising revenue strategy.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman called the ad deceptive on X. He claimed his company has more users in Texas than Anthropic has globally. Users can access Claude Opus 4.6 through claude.ai, the company’s API, and major cloud platforms.

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