Global shares recover, software stocks hit by AI-led disruption
Precious metals bounce back after rout
Oil rises, focus on US/Iran tensions
Updates throughout
By Amanda Cooper
LONDON, Feb 4 (Reuters) - Global shares rose on Wednesday, recovering from earlier lows, as a selloff in software stocks lost some intensity, while gold headed for its biggest two-day gain in more than 17 years.
Oil prices spiked after the United States shot down an Iranian drone and armed boats approached a U.S.-flagged vessel in a key waterway.
Market action was dominated early on by a selloff in global providers of data analytics, professional services and software after Anthropic's launch of plug-ins for its Claude Cowork agent on Friday raised worries about an AI-fuelled disruption to those industries.
Shares in the likes of Britain's LSEG LSEG.L and RELX REL.L and Wolters Kluwer WLSNc.AS of the Netherlands tumbled for a second day, having posted double-digit percentage drops on Tuesday.
"Anthropic is now, really obviously parking its tanks on their lawn," IG chief markets strategist Chris Beauchamp said of the software companies.
"The market is clearly telling them: 'look, your business models are under serious threat here, even if it's not doomed, it's not an apocalypse. It is certainly a major challenge for you to come up with solutions that involve partnerships with OpenAI or Anthropic or whatever it is," he said.
Beyond the tech sector, shares of Novo Nordisk NOVOb.CO slid nearly 20% after the maker of blockbuster weight-loss drugs Wegovy and Ozempic warned that "unprecedented" price pressures would hit sales and profits hard this year.
The STOXX 600 index .STOXX was last up 0.6%, just below record highs, while the FTSE 100 .FTSE, which hosts LSEG and RELX, was up 1.3%, boosted by rallies in oil and healthcare stocks.
U.S. futures NQc1, ESc1 were mostly steady, after the benchmark indices dropped 1% the day before, led by sharp declines in software stocks such as Salesforce <CRM.O>, Datadog <DDOG.O> and Adobe <ADBE.O>.
In Wednesday's premarket, shares in U.S. software and services firms <.SPLRCIS> were mixed after a near 13% slide over five straight sessions. Nasdaq-listed Thomson Reuters <TRI.O>, the parent company of Reuters News, was flat in light volume after Tuesday's record 16% slump on fears that AI could threaten its core legal division.
VOLATILE TIMES
Precious metals, meanwhile, extended their recovery from a vicious two-day selloff that drove silver down by as much as 30% in a day.
Spot gold XAU= reclaimed the $5,000 level and was up 2% at $5,047 an ounce, bringing gains over the last two days to nearly 9% - the largest such gain since late 2008. Silver XAG= rose nearly 6% to $90 an ounce.
The meltdown was triggered by U.S. President Donald Trump announcing Kevin Warsh as his pick to lead the Federal Reserve, while a margin hike from CME CME.O exacerbated the selling. Warsh is expected to shrink the Fed's balance sheet, which usually hurts non-yielding precious metals.
"We expect elevated volatility to continue in the near term, but stabilization should return once the market finds its footing," said Joshua Chim, general manager of online broker FSMone.
He added that retail investors on the platform had been "buying the dip via unit trusts or ETFs" following the "significant correction" in gold and silver prices.
In the oil market, Brent crude futures LCOc1 edged up 0.2% to $67.48 a barrel, not far off six-month highs, as investors kept a close eye on talks aimed at de-escalating recent U.S.-Iran tensions.
FED IMPLICATIONS
In currency markets, volatility was more contained.
The European Central Bank and the Bank of England both meet on Thursday, but neither is expected to make changes to their respective interest rates. The euro EUR= was last at $1.18257, unchanged on the day, while sterling GBP= edged up 0.2% to $1.3724.
The yen JPY= fell beyond the weaker side of 156 per dollar, which rose 0.6%, ahead of a weekend lower house election in Japan that could see Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi win a stronger mandate to pursue tax cuts and expanded stimulus.
(Additional reporting by Rae Wee in Singapore; Editing by Jamie Freed, Catherine Evans and Emelia Sithole-Matarise)
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