Wednesday 04 February 2026 6:45 am | Updated: Wednesday 04 February 2026 7:27 am

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City Reporter

Anthropic launched a new data tool that rattled markets.

Good morning and welcome back to the City AM liveblog.

Shares in Europe’s biggest data, publishing and legal software groups slumped on Tuesday after AI giant Anthropic unveiled a new tool aimed directly at in-house lawyers. The move rattled investors who had long viewed the sector as an AI winner.

In London, Relx fell close to 11 per cent, while Pearson dropped around four per cent. London Stock Exchange Group and Experian were both down more than seven per cent. In Europe, Wolters Kluwer sank almost nine per cent in Amsterdam.

The sell-off followed Anthropic’s release of a legal productivity tool designed to automate tasks like contract reviews, non-disclosure agreement triage, compliance checks and straight forward legal responses.

Elsewhere, markets were asking on Tuesday whether meme stock was back – or more poignantly is gold joining the basket of equities that social media investors sparked a phenomenon out of?

Analysts over the last few days have been rounding off on the yellow metal’s recent moves stating it is set to enter a league currently containing Krispy Kreme, Go Pro and Game Stop.

Ipek Ozkardeskaya, senior analyst at Swissquote said whilst gold had traditionally served as a protection against risks it was now behaving “like a risky asset – worse, at times like a meme stock”.

Has the gold rally got steam left in it or is it coming to an end after the latest correction?

We’ll be bringing you the latest as we get it.

In the meantime here’s a few of our top stories from yesterday: