London, Feb 25, 2026, 09:30 GMT — Regular session.
Shares in London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) rose 1.6% in early London trade on Wednesday, last up 124 pence at 7,802 pence by 0931 GMT. The stock traded between 7,714 and 7,864 pence. (Google)
The move lands in a jittery patch for market-data names, where investors are trying to price the upside of faster automation against the risk that generative AI makes some paid tools easier to copy. LSEG is a proxy for that argument in London.
Timing matters. In the next 24 hours, traders get fresh signals on whether the AI “plug-in” race is pulling demand forward — or just speeding up the churn in how finance teams buy data and analytics.
LSE data showed the stock opened at 7,658 pence and about 1.7 million shares had changed hands early in the session. Tuesday’s close was 7,678 pence. (London Stock Exchange)
A catalyst sitting behind the tape is Anthropic’s rollout of new enterprise plug-ins — add-ons that connect its Claude model to specific workflows — with partners that include LSEG and data rival FactSet. “It’s not a product that’s trying to own every workflow,” Scott White, Anthropic’s head of product for enterprise, said. (Reuters)
Some investors took the announcement as a reminder that the big winners may be the firms that can put trusted data inside the new tools, rather than fight them. Robert Pavlik, a senior portfolio manager at Dakota Wealth, called it “still early in the process,” while Ken Polcari at SlateStone Wealth described recent trading as “shoot first, ask questions later.” (Reuters)
London has felt the same tug-of-war. “Underlying AI jitters persisted,” Ipek Ozkardeskaya, senior analyst at Swissquote Bank, said on Tuesday as UK tech stocks rebounded. (Reuters)
LSEG has been pushing its own pitch on the plumbing. In a Feb. 24 post, Emily Prince, its group head of analytics and group AI, said Claude’s new financial plug-ins combined with an LSEG server using the Model Context Protocol (a standard that links AI models to data tools) can “become institutional-grade.” (LSEG)
Investors now turn to Thursday. LSEG is due to publish preliminary results for the year ended Dec. 31, 2025 on Feb. 26, and it has scheduled a webcast for 10:00 a.m. UK time hosted by Chief Executive David Schwimmer and Chief Financial Officer Michel‑Alain Proch. (LSEG)
There was also market-structure news in the background. Executives from LSEG, Aberdeen and Ninety One have been appointed to oversee the UK’s first consolidated tape for bonds, set to launch on June 22, Financial News London reported. (FNLondon)
The risk, as ever, is that the story flips. If AI tools make parts of research, pricing and compliance cheaper than expected, investors may treat “partnership” headlines as table stakes and focus hard on revenue retention and pricing.
LSEG is a major markets infrastructure and data provider, spanning data and analytics, indexes at FTSE Russell, and trading and post-trade services. That mix means Thursday’s read-through won’t just be about UK equity volumes. (Reuters)
For now, the next clear catalyst is Thursday’s preliminary results and the 10:00 a.m. webcast — especially any guidance on 2026 growth, costs and where AI moves from demo to paid product.
