Software stocks staged a significant recovery on Tuesday, February 24, as the sector moved to reclaim ground following a massive AI-driven selloff. This "relief rally" was catalyzed by strategic moves from the AI startup Anthropic, which shifted the narrative from industry disruption to enterprise collaboration. The broader market saw the S&P 500 Software & Services Index climb 1.4%, while the iShares Expanded Tech-Software Sector ETF jumped 2.4%. This bounce followed a 10-month low reached on Monday, when fears of AI-induced job losses and revenue displacement wiped out billions in market value. Anthropic’s release of 10 new enterprise plug-ins for its Claude AI model served as the primary tailwind. These tools are specifically designed to automate complex tasks in high-value sectors such as investment banking, wealth management, and human resources. Key performance figures for partner companies included: - DocuSign: shares surged 6.0% - FactSet: gained 5.3% - Salesforce (Slack): rose 4.0% - LSEG: climbed 0.4% The tools focus on high-level workflows, including reviewing banking deals, analyzing portfolios, and generating branded HR materials. By partnering directly with established software firms, Anthropic is positioning AI as an "infrastructure" layer rather than a replacement for existing platforms. IBM also saw a modest rebound of 3.5% on Tuesday. This followed a historic 13% drop on Monday—its worst day in over 25 years—after news broke that AI could automate the modernization of legacy COBOL code, a move initially seen as a threat to IBM’s core services. Market sentiment is currently stabilizing as analysts suggest the recent "Software-mageddon" may have been oversold. While long-term questions regarding seat-based pricing and client churn remain, the current focus has shifted toward how legacy players can integrate agentic AI to protect their business models. [Anthropic AI Tool Sparks Stocks Selloff](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lbITsEcSb68) This video provides a deep dive into how initial AI announcements triggered a massive market rout before the recent stabilization occurred. http://googleusercontent.com/youtube_content/0