Software shares showed signs of recovery on Tuesday as a wave of collaborations centered on Anthropic's newest AI tools appeared to soften investor anxiety about immediate disruption to established software-as-a-service (SaaS) business models.
Market moves were led by a mix of established vendors and a software-focused ETF. Salesforce shares rose about 3.5% after the company said it is building plug-ins for Anthropic's newest AI releases. DocuSign (NASDAQ:DOCU) climbed roughly 3% after announcing its own tie-up, and Intuit (NASDAQ:INTU) recorded a modest gain after outlining plans to develop custom AI agents with the startup. Research and information company Thomson Reuters (NYSE:TRI) advanced sharply, with shares up nearly 10% after reporting it had reached one million professional users for its CoCounsel legal and business AI product and confirming work with Anthropic's Claude model. The iShares Expanded Tech-Software Sector ETF (NYSE:IGV) rose about 2%.
These moves followed a pronounced selloff in software stocks that occurred several weeks earlier, when investors reacted to concerns that more autonomous AI capabilities could threaten revenue streams in parts of the SaaS industry. The recent partnership announcements tied to Anthropic's product push have prompted a reassessment by some market participants, who see a cooperative integration path rather than immediate wholesale replacement of existing software systems.
"While legacy SaaS software vendors will face ongoing risk (both headline and actual) from AI disruption, the Anthropic agent event today is emphasizing PARTNERSHIPS, not displacement, discussing how Claude works with existing software systems to help improve performance and capabilities." - Adam Crisafulli, Vital Knowledge
Anthropic on Tuesday unveiled 10 new integration options that enterprise customers can use to embed its technology into core workflows. The company said the new plug-ins are designed to support a range of tasks, from investment banking deal review and wealth-management portfolio analysis to HR activities such as producing branded onboarding materials. Additional tools were highlighted for private equity teams, engineering and design groups, and Anthropic said Claude can now interface with widely used business applications including Google Calendar and Gmail.
Anthropic, which counts backing from Alphabet's Google and Amazon among its investors, has been accelerating enterprise-focused development as it builds out its capabilities ahead of a potential public listing. The company has said no final decision has been made regarding an initial public offering.
Investor sensitivity to Anthropic's product moves remains high. Last month, the firm's earlier legal plug-in release coincided with a sharp market reaction that led to an $830 billion global drawdown in software and services stocks spread across six trading sessions, as market participants fretted that AI-driven automation could trim portions of industry revenue.
Tuesday's partnership-driven announcements suggested a different near-term narrative: vendors and AI specialists collaborating to augment and integrate rather than immediately displace incumbent systems. For now, the market response has been supportive of several software names and the sector ETF, though analysts continue to flag ongoing risks related to AI's longer-term implications for business models.
Summary of market moves:
- Salesforce up about 3.5% on Anthropic plug-in development.
- DocuSign up roughly 3% following partnership announcement.
- Intuit posted a modest gain after plans to build custom AI agents with Anthropic.
- Thomson Reuters surged nearly 10% after reaching one million CoCounsel users and announcing work with Claude.
- The iShares Expanded Tech-Software Sector ETF (IGV) advanced about 2%.