Public Markets 24 Hours

Last updated: September 18, 2026, 10:03 PM ET

Energy & Commodities

Oil futures ended little changed after a frantic week, with prices easing back as middle-east supply fears subsided. Gold held steady near $2,340/oz despite a weakening dollar. Natural gas futures rose on summer demand, looking to end the week with gains as extended summer heating persisted. Copper notched its 11th weekly gain in twelve as signs of a rebound in Chinese demand emerged. Iron ore was headed for a weekly gain after recovering from a sharp decline earlier in the week.

Fixed Income

The two-year U.S. Treasury yield touched 4.744%, its highest intraday yield since July 2024, as inflation trepidation offset AI optimism. Eurozone government bond yields edged higher but stayed comfortably below recent highs. French bond risk surged to a 14-year high amid budget deficit concerns. Bond income eased some pain in the treasury selloff, with yields not much above 5% since 2007. Investors pulled $1.8 billion from the muni market as the return slump extended.

Equities

The Dow Industrials fell for a third-straight week while the Nasdaq composite ended mixed. Stock futures rose amid oil losses and yield gains after the S&P 500 and Nasdaq posted gains. Berkshire Hathaway shareholders saw Howard Buffett named chair, with Warren Buffett stepping down. Disney appointed its first CTO as the industry pushes to embrace AI. Nvidia unveiled its next-generation Blackwell Ultra GPU, claiming a 4x inference throughput gain over the H100.

Deals & Financing

Nscale filed for a $35bn US listing, a UK-based start-up that won a huge contract to supply computing power to Anthropic. Blackstone secured a first-lien term loan for its data center cooling firm acquisition. KKR’s McVey favored private markets as traditional hedges crumble. Ant International-backed Mynt eyes the Philippines’s largest-ever IPO. OpenAI’s listing delay raises stakes for SoftBank’s $50bn data centre IPO. Goldman’s Snider dismissed fears of a US earnings bubble, citing robust economic fundamentals.

Currencies & Rates

The dollar surged to its best week since June on a higher rate outlook. The yen extended declines after BOJ rate hikes, falling after Governor Kazuo Ueda gave mixed signals on further hikes. Hedge funds turned bullish on the yen for the first time since July 2025. The Singapore dollar was steady vs the USD amid debasement fears. BOE’s balance sheet move eased repo pressure.

Mergers & Acquisitions

Paramount is in advanced settlement talks with California’s Attorney General over the $81 billion merger between Paramount and Skydance. Russia seized control of Nestlé’s local operations, with the Swiss maker of Kit Kats and Nescafé assessing the situation. Turkey moves to liquidate 17bn in funds amid a Ponzi-like scheme. Venezuela nears deal to tap $4bn gold reserve, shifting gold from London to New York. Saudi Aramco halted European crude deliveries after a pipeline attack.

Sector Highlights

Lilly stock rallied on a new price target of $1,400, surging about 300% since its first GLP-1 was approved. Oracle’s $18bn data centre debt strains amid local pushback. VW warns of up to €10bn hit from Porsche writedown. Glencore faces a $2bn battle with iron ore trader Radiant. Mothercare shares plunged on solvency warning. PSG is said to consider selling its stake in Mumbai port operations.

Economic Policy

Trump promotes a Medicaid drug price program ahead of midterms, saying all states had opted in. The FAA debuts an AI tool for Washington airports, called SMART, to crunch scheduling and weather data. Japan raises rates to 31-year high, making the U.S. less alluring for Tokyo investors. France calls a G7 summit on releasing oil reserves as supply concerns worsen. The Iran war drives global interest rate surge, with the Fed trying to catch up with leap in bond rates.