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Wednesday 04 February 2026 6:45 am  |  Updated:  Monday 23 February 2026 2:25 pm

FTSE 100 Live: Beazley seals $15bn Zurich deal, Santander in $12bn takeover

By: Samuel Norman, Maria Ward-Brennan and Maisie Grice

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Anthropic AI logo on a digital screen, symbolizing technological innovation and advancements in artificial intelligence.
The US-based company said it will scale up from its current base

Good morning and welcome back to the Morning Wire 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:

  • Red signal for £500m Central line upgrade after just four trains refitted
  • Private markets suffer ‘reality check’ as fundraising dries up
  • Why has no one in the Cabinet run a business?
  • Badenoch: Starmer put UK in ‘weaker position’ through deals with China
  • Tories gain on Reform in polls yet Badenoch struggles for approval
  • Exclusive: Olympian Matt Richards launches sports-tech platform Sponza
  • Disney streaming gains momentum as Hollywood pressure builds
Read more

As it happened: Stocks rally after US jobs report; Oil tumbles to pre-Iran war levels

The UK could enjoy a 50 per cent production boost without breaking its net-zero pledges
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