Anthropic Rattles Markets Anthropic’s launch of Cowork plugins on February 4 sent markets into a tizzy. The AI release sparked a global tech sell-off, dragging down SaaS giants and India’s IT bellwethers alike. So, what did Anthropic launch and why did it spook the markets? The SaaSpocalypse: On February 4, the AI major rolled out 11 plugins for Claude Cowork, positioning it as an AI assistant that moves beyond chat to autonomously execute multi-step workplace tasks directly on a user’s computer. Markets read the launch as a structural inflexion point, which triggered the stock dumping. IT Stocks Caught In Fire: While the first shockwave hit US and European software giants like Salesforce, Adobe, SAP and ServiceNow, the sell-off quickly shrouded Indian IT stocks. While the Nifty IT index plunged to its worst single-day fall in six years of 6%, giants Infosys, TCS, Wipro, HCLTech and Tech Mahindra also slid between 5-8%. Market watchers claimed that tools like Claude Cowork could directly hit India’s labour-intensive service delivery model. An Overreaction? A section of market voices feels that the sell-off was more about sentiment rather than fundamentals, arguing that near-term positioning should hinge on client stickiness, balance sheets, and deal wins over… Read MoreInc42 Media
