Anthropic introduced Claude Sonnet 4.6 on February 17, 2026, describing it as the company's most capable Sonnet-class model to date. Within hours, shares of major enterprise software companies were moving lower — Oracle, Salesforce, Intuit, Adobe, and Thomson Reuters all closed in the red, and the ripple reached India's Nifty IT index the following morning. The pattern is becoming a familiar one: a new frontier AI model drops, and the market re-evaluates how much enterprise software is worth.
Model Capabilities: What Sonnet 4.6 Actually Delivers
Claude Sonnet 4.6 delivers measurable improvements across six core capability areas: coding, computer use (browser-based automation), long-context reasoning, agent planning, knowledge work, and design. The benchmark results are what spooked the market:
72.5%
OSWorld-Verified
Computer use tasks — within 0.2% of flagship Opus 4.6
79.6%
SWE-bench Verified
Software engineering coding benchmark
1,633
Office Productivity Elo
Leading performance in knowledge work tasks
The 72.5% score on OSWorld-Verified — a benchmark measuring how well AI can autonomously control a computer browser and desktop environment — is particularly significant. It's within 0.2% of Anthropic's flagship Opus model. For tasks that involve navigating software interfaces, filling forms, running reports, or automating repetitive digital work, Sonnet 4.6 is nearly indistinguishable from the top of the line.
Pricing: Same Cost, Significantly More Capable
Anthropic held pricing flat at $3 per million input tokens and $15 per million output tokens — identical to Sonnet 4.5. The model immediately became the default for free and Pro users on claude.ai, Claude Cowork, and related products, meaning the upgrade was automatic and universal for existing users.
Early access users reported preferring Sonnet 4.6 over the prior Opus 4.5 on many tasks, citing better consistency, stronger instruction-following, and equivalent or superior results at significantly lower cost. That combination — more capable, same price, better instruction compliance — is precisely what enterprise software buyers evaluate when deciding whether to build internal AI tooling or continue paying SaaS subscription fees.
When a mid-tier model delivers near-flagship performance at unchanged pricing, the market doesn't always wait for the full earnings call to adjust valuations.
Stock Market Response: February 17, 2026
The sell-off was immediate and broad. Software companies whose revenue is most directly threatened by AI automation — tax preparation, legal research, CRM, creative tools — took the largest hits.
US SaaS Stock Moves — Feb 17, 2026
Source: Market data, Feb 17, 2026. Bars scaled relative to largest single-day move (Intuit -5.2%).
Intuit — parent of TurboTax, QuickBooks, and Credit Karma — suffered the biggest single-day decline at 5.2%. The market is pricing in that AI agents capable of autonomous computer use and reasoning represent an existential threat to tax preparation and bookkeeping software workflows. Oracle declined 3.4%, a company that has made aggressive AI-integration announcements of its own, suggesting the market views the pace of third-party AI development as outrunning Oracle's internal roadmap.
Salesforce fell 2.7% — notable given that Salesforce has positioned its Agentforce platform as an AI-native CRM solution. The market appeared to weigh whether Sonnet 4.6's agentic planning and computer use capabilities give enterprises a reason to build their own AI CRM tooling rather than pay Salesforce licensing fees.
India: Nifty IT Drops ~2.5% on February 18
The sell-off extended to Indian IT services on February 18, 2026, with the Nifty IT index declining approximately 2.5%. Companies exposed to software services and outsourced knowledge work were among the hardest hit:
- Persistent Systems — 2–3% decline
- Infosys — 2–3% decline
- Coforge — 2–3% decline
- Tech Mahindra — 2–3% decline
- LTI Mindtree — 2–3% decline
Indian IT services companies are particularly exposed to AI automation risk because a significant portion of their revenue comes from software development outsourcing, QA, data processing, and IT support — all categories where Sonnet 4.6's coding (79.6% SWE-bench) and computer use (72.5% OSWorld) capabilities directly compete.
Broader Context: SaaS Under Sustained AI Pressure
The Sonnet 4.6 announcement is not a standalone event. It is part of an accelerating model release cadence from Anthropic, OpenAI, Google DeepMind, and others that has put software sector valuations under a sustained re-rating pressure throughout 2025 and into 2026. The earlier Claude Opus 4.6 release also contributed to the broader tech-software softness seen in recent weeks.
Analysts are divided on the ultimate impact. The bearish read is that SaaS companies charging per-seat subscription fees for software that AI models can now replicate through browser automation face a structural pricing ceiling. The more cautious view holds that enterprise software is sticky — procurement cycles are long, compliance requirements are complex, and organizations don't abandon their ERP or CRM systems based on a benchmark score.
But both camps agree on one point: the pace of AI capability gains is outrunning most enterprise software companies' ability to ship AI-native counterfeatures fast enough to justify their current multiples.
Timeline: Claude Sonnet 4.6 & Market Reaction
Anthropic Releases Claude Sonnet 4.6
Announced as the most capable Sonnet-class model to date. Becomes the default model for free and Pro users on claude.ai immediately.
US Software Stocks Decline
Oracle -3.4%, Thomson Reuters -3%, Salesforce -2.7%, Intuit -5.2%, Adobe -1.4% during trading.
India's Nifty IT Index Drops ~2.5%
Persistent Systems, Infosys, Coforge, Tech Mahindra, and LTI Mindtree each decline 2–3% as global IT markets absorb the implications.
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Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice. Stock movements cited are for reporting purposes. Consult a qualified financial advisor before making any investment decisions.