Anthropic files, HSBC slips and Brazil tumbles

Anthropic files, and technology rallies

Anthropic has filed for a stock market listing. The Wall Street Journal called it a historic IPO. The Guardian described the valuation as potentially record-breaking and framed the filing as a key test for the AI industry. Sky News, the BBC and This is Money all reached for the word blockbuster.

The figures in the filing cut both ways. Euronews reported soaring revenues. City A.M. led instead on an $80bn loss. The company was also blunt about its own subject. The BBC reported a warning of 'catastrophic risk' to humankind, Euronews quoted 'risks to humanity', and This is Money noted the company's caution that the technology could have 'catastrophic' consequences. The BBC and The Guardian each published a digest of what the document revealed, five surprising things and four takeaways respectively. On the WSJ's opinion pages, the listing was headlined a gamble.

Markets took the news well. The WSJ's live coverage on Monday 26 October said technology shares rallied after the filing, and its closing report had US stocks rising ahead of technology earnings. The mood carried into Asia overnight, where the Nikkei rose 1.7%, led by chip-related stocks.

London had its own beneficiary. This is Money reported that Computacenter shares soared on the AI boom, a move it put at a £200m boost for the British tech tycoons behind the company. City A.M.'s morning live blog carried the same theme in its headline: tech stocks surge.

HSBC disappoints, Hong Kong waits

HSBC reported on Tuesday morning. The South China Morning Post put the rise in third-quarter pre-tax profit at 32%, and the bank announced a US$1bn share buy-back. The shares still fell 5%.

The Wall Street Journal's headline supplied the reason. Profit growth missed.

The bank's home market is having an uneven autumn for new issues. The SCMP reported that Hong Kong faces a fundraising test after a fourth IPO was pulled since midyear. That sits awkwardly beside the scale of the American filing that dominated Monday's coverage. The city has also been busy with plumbing. The SCMP reported that Hong Kong has opened secondary trading for tokenised public funds, which the paper called a global first.

On the mainland the tone was heavier. The SCMP said China's bearish stock market faces more pressure from a weak earnings growth forecast. Not every company fits that pattern. WuXi AppTec, the Chinese biotech group, raised its 2026 outlook after a profit surge.

Listings were a London subject too. City A.M. ran a comment piece arguing there can be no Big Bang 2.0 and that investors need hard incentives to revive the City. The same paper reported that Plus500's finance chief said a US listing was 'always on table'.

Brazil, bullion and the price of things

Brazil's election produced the sharpest market move in the material. The Wall Street Journal reported that Brazilian markets crashed after Lula's surprise election win stunned investors. This is Money called the result a 'tsunami' and said it sent both the currency and the stock market tumbling.

In the United States the conversation was about borrowing costs. The WSJ reported that gold edged lower as investors weighed a potential Federal Reserve rate hike this year. A CNBC analysis argued that a $2 trillion deficit and 5% Treasury yields are becoming America's biggest economic challenge. The BBC offered a related piece under the headline that Donald Trump's biggest economic problem looks strangely familiar, and The Guardian set out five charts on the US economy in his second term, quoting the line 'We don't have inflation' with a question mark attached.

Energy remains expensive. City A.M.'s morning blog expected London stocks to slide, with oil holding at $115.

British shoppers are feeling it. The Guardian reported that UK shop price inflation is at its highest since 2024 as retailers struggle to limit price rises. City A.M. put the matter in starker terms, with the warning to Healey that 'the dam is breaking' on shop price inflation. The Budget looms over all of this. The BBC ran several pieces ahead of it on Tuesday, including one on hopes among struggling first-time buyers and another asking whether the Budget will pass what it called Burnham's Makerfield test.