A sell-off in European and North American software, data analytics and advertising stocks deepened on Tuesday after new artificial intelligence (AI) models raised concerns over the potential impact on sectors once seen as AI beneficiaries.
One catalyst was the launch of Anthropic’s legal plug-in for its Claude generative AI chatbot, according to traders and analysts.
The move sent Britain’s RELX and the Netherlands’ Wolters Kluwer, both providers of legal analytics services, down as much as 17 per cent and 13 per cent respectively. Toronto‑based Thomson Reuters, which owns the Westlaw legal database, fell more than 14 per cent.
Dublin
Bank of Ireland and AIB finished up for the session but only marginally by 0.4 per cent and 0.6 per cent respectively. Home builders Cairn and Glenveagh also had a good day, closing up by 1 per cent.
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Ryanair, however, closed down by 0.7 per cent by €28.98. This followed a Belgian court ruling that ordered the airline to end some of its commercial and marketing practices for flights sold in the country.
Europe
Germany’s SAP, which less than a year ago was Europe’s most valuable company, slumped over 16 per cent last week after its cloud revenue forecast missed expectations, wiping about $40 billion off its market value in one day. Its shares were down 4.9 per cent on Tuesday and more than 41 per cent below 2025’s high.
“Artificial intelligence is increasingly able to perform exactly the sort of programming and knowledge‑based services that underpin these business models, so parts of the sector have been under pressure for some time,” said Giuseppe Sersale, fund manager at Anthilia.
Advertising companies were also under pressure. France’s Publicis shares dived more than 9 per cent after the company’s results.
Publicis, the world’s largest advertising group by market capitalisation, said it had earmarked approximately €900 million for acquisitions in 2026, focusing on AI-powered technologies and data assets.
London
London’s FTSE 100 pulled back from a record high on Tuesday as losses in AI-exposed stocks outweighed gains in miners, with investors cautious in advance of the Bank of England’s policy meeting later this week.
The blue-chip index closed down 0.26 per cent, after hitting an all-time high of 10,373.28 points during the session. The technology index dropped 11.8 per cent after a sell-off in European software and data analytics firms accelerated, as updated artificial intelligence models raised fresh doubts about whether incumbent firms can defend their business models.
Business information group RELX slid 15 per cent, while exchange operator and data provider London Stock Exchange Group fell 12.7 per cent, as both were caught up in the broader AI-linked sell-off.
Elsewhere, the investment banking index was down 1.5 per cent, while the retail index fell 2.6 per cent.
“If you’re looking globally, risk appetite just isn’t fully restored after the metals volatility we’ve seen since last week. Once the dust in the metals market finally settles, I believe we’ll refocus on the broader risk-taking environment,” said Ipek Ozkardeskaya, senior analyst at Swissquote Bank.
Gold staged its biggest one-day rally since 2008, after a two-session commodity-linked stock sell-off that traders said was triggered in part by US president Donald Trump’s choice for the next chairman/woman of the Federal Reserve.
New York
The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq dropped on Tuesday as a broad sell-off in software and cloud stocks blunted upbeat results from Palantir and kept investors on edge ahead of earnings from Alphabet and Amazon later this week.
Microsoft fell 2.3 per cent, while Intuit and Atlassian slid more than 8 per cent each. Adobe and Datadog dropped 6 per cent each and Oracle slipped 2 per cent.
CrowdStrike sank 3.8 per cent and Snowflake dropped 8.2 per cent, while Salesforce lost 5.6 per cent and Accenture was down 8.6 per cent.
Palantir, however, bucked the trend, rising 4.4 per cent on strong results that reinforced investor enthusiasm for demand tied to AI.
The S&P 500 software and services index dropped 3.3 per cent, on pace to log its fifth consecutive day of losses.
The retreat in high-flying software names followed fresh unease about how quickly newer, more capable artificial intelligence models could disrupt established businesses – reviving questions over whether today’s perceived AI winners can protect pricing power and long-term growth. – Additional reporting: Reuters
