Financial Data Stocks Plunge as Anthropic Releases Claude Opus 4.6 AI Model

TLDR

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Anthropic launched Claude Opus 4.6 on Thursday, triggering double-digit losses in financial technology stocks
FactSet plunged 9.1%, S&P Global declined 4.2%, and Moody’s fell 3.3% after the AI model debut
Claude Opus 4.6 ranks first on Finance Agent benchmark and outperforms competing AI models from OpenAI and Google
The model completes coding work in hours instead of days and performs complex financial analysis tasks
Software sector faces mounting pressure with Salesforce down 25% and Intuit falling 32% in 2026

Anthropic introduced Claude Opus 4.6 Thursday, prompting sharp declines in financial data and software company valuations. The artificial intelligence company positioned the launch as its strongest enterprise model to date.

Introducing Claude Opus 4.6. Our smartest model got an upgrade.

Opus 4.6 plans more carefully, sustains agentic tasks for longer, operates reliably in massive codebases, and catches its own mistakes.

It’s also our first Opus-class model with 1M token context in beta. pic.twitter.com/L1iQyRgT9x

— Claude (@claudeai) February 5, 2026

Financial technology stocks experienced severe pressure following the news. FactSet Research Systems plummeted 9.1% during Thursday trading. Credit rating agencies saw similar movements with S&P Global falling 4.2% and Moody’s dropping 3.3%.

Nasdaq lost 3.7% as the exchange and data provider faced disruption concerns. Software companies already struggling in early 2026 posted additional losses. Salesforce declined 25% year-to-date while SAP fell 18%.

Thomson Reuters dropped 30% since January 1st. Intuit shares decreased 32% over the same period. The WisdomTree Cloud Computing Fund lost over 20% as AI concerns spread through the sector.

Enterprise clients account for approximately 80% of Anthropic’s revenue base. CEO Dario Amodei shared this figure with CNBC last month. The company has focused on business customers as a key growth strategy.

Advanced Capabilities Drive Market Concerns

Claude Opus 4.6 improves upon Claude Opus 4.5 with expanded functionality. The system researches topics, generates documents, and creates files independently. Anthropic stated the model produces “production-ready quality” without multiple revisions.

Users require fewer iterations on documents, spreadsheets, and presentations. Benchmark testing shows Claude Opus 4.6 exceeds performance of OpenAI GPT-5.2 and Google Gemini 3 Pro. The model secured the top Finance Agent benchmark position for analyst work.

The AI operates across multiple tools while identifying and fixing errors. It processes financial information including regulatory documents, market data, and company records. Development projects that normally take days finish in hours with the new model.

Claude Opus 4.6 handles code planning, review, and debugging in extensive codebases. It locates specific information within large document collections. Scott White serves as Anthropic’s head of product for enterprise users.

“If I think about the last year, Claude went from a model that you can sort of talk to to accomplish a very small task or get an answer, to something that you can actually hand real work to,” White explained.

Platform Expansion and Industry Response

Anthropic released the model hours after OpenAI unveiled its Frontier platform. OpenAI’s service lets customers deploy AI agents within existing software infrastructure. The simultaneous announcements highlight intensifying competition between AI providers.

The launch followed Anthropic’s recent Claude Cowork plugin releases. These tools address productivity, legal, sales, and marketing functions. Microsoft PowerPoint integration entered research preview for select subscribers.

Users create presentations through text prompts in the preview version. Anthropic maintains existing connections with SharePoint, OneDrive, Outlook, and Teams. The company scheduled a Super Bowl commercial for Sunday targeting OpenAI’s advertising approach.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman disputed Anthropic’s claims on social media platform X. He stated OpenAI has more Texas users than Anthropic’s total user base. Access to Claude Opus 4.6 is available through claude.ai, the company API, and cloud platforms.

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