Anthropic Disrupts IBM COBOL Modernization Market

IBM shares plunged 11% on Monday after Anthropic announced new COBOL automation capabilities in its Claude Code product, which automates exploration, dependency mapping and analysis for legacy code modernization. Anthropic said Claude Code can surface risks and document workflows across thousands of lines, potentially cutting months of analyst work. The move pressured legacy-services and cybersecurity stocks and left IBM down about 22% year-to-date.