London, May 16, 2026, 15:05 BST
- RELX gained 2.45% on Friday, finishing at 2,423p. Shares still closed the week down.
- London is closed for the weekend. RELX will trade again in its next regular session on Monday.
- Investors are looking at RELX’s AI growth story as new legal-AI rivals show up.
Shares of RELX PLC jumped Friday and outpaced a sluggish London market. But even with today’s move, the data and analytics group logged a weekly loss. The main investor question hasn’t changed: does artificial intelligence work more for RELX or against it?
The stock finished Friday at 2,423p, up 58p, or 2.45%, with 10.69 million shares changing hands, Investors Chronicle market data showed. Shares stayed roughly 1.5% lower than the 2,460p close a week earlier.
Trading is paused heading into the weekend, with the London Stock Exchange set to open again Monday. LSE’s regular hours are 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. British Summer Time, Monday through Friday. Saturday is a closed day for the market, with trading set to resume at the week’s start.
FTSE 100 posts biggest drop in two months as political and inflation worries weigh London’s FTSE 100 slipped 1.7% to finish at 10,195.37 on Friday, marking its sharpest one-day decline in more than eight weeks, according to Reuters. UK stocks faced pressure from concerns over domestic politics, higher borrowing costs, and renewed inflation nerves tied to oil prices.
RELX shares bounced Thursday and Friday after a steep fall in the middle of the week. The stock had slumped 4.97% Wednesday to 2,333p before pulling back up, based on Investing.com historical data.
RELX is still giving the same outlook. In its April update, the company said it sees “strong underlying growth” ahead for revenue and adjusted operating profit this year. That growth measure cuts out things like currency swings, deals, disposals and some timing, which the company says helps show how the main business is really doing. Relx
RELX management talked up its Risk business at a May 13 investor seminar, pointing to fraud, identity, compliance, and insurance decision tools sold by the unit. Rick Trainor, CEO of Business Services at LexisNexis Risk Solutions, told investors Risk made up about 36% of RELX revenue and 39% of profit in 2025. He said “the long-term fundamentals” were strong. MarketScreener
Legal and professional information is still where competition is tightest. Reuters said this week that Anthropic has expanded its Claude AI assistant with more legal tools and links to Thomson Reuters platforms, like Westlaw and Practical Law. For RELX investors, that keeps Thomson Reuters in focus, even though RELX has more than just legal research.
Some analysts are staying positive. Deutsche Bank’s Steve Liechti held his Buy rating on RELX as of May 14, keeping the target at 3,050p, according to MarketScreener. MarketScreener consensus showed 15 analysts with an average target of 3,618p and a mean Buy rating.
RELX says its advantage goes beyond AI, pointing instead to data rights, workflow integration, and proprietary models. Chief Financial Officer Nick Luff told Reuters in February that RELX uses its algorithms to help professional customers make “right judgments” and “right interpretations” for high-value decisions. Reuters
Downside risks are clear. If UK gilts stay under pressure or oil prices keep stoking inflation worries, defensive growth names might struggle too. Neil Wilson, investor strategist at Saxo UK, told Reuters markets “won’t like” the political uncertainty over a possible challenge to Prime Minister Keir Starmer. Reuters
RELX is expected to stay range-bound Monday, not break out. The shares need to stay above the 2,333p-2,352p zone, where buyers stepped in late last week. A move back over 2,455p-2,460p could undo more of the recent slide. But if RELX drops below Wednesday’s 2,298p low, the AI-risk trade could take over again.
