Markets 24-Hour Briefing
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Last updated: October 23, 2026, 10:40 PM ET
Oil & Energy
Oil futures wsj.com climbed to a five-month high as Brent crude traded above $116 on fears of escalation in the Middle East, dragging the Dow lower. Brent touched $117 ft.com, its highest level since April, as the war in Iran threatened to widen. Refiners are benefiting: record refining margins are lifting oil majors' earnings wsj.com ahead of their quarterly reports. Eni raised shareholder payouts bloomberg.com after earnings doubled, while the CFTC said it is reviewing oil trading bloomberg.com oversight. US natural gas futures fell on mild weather wsj.com, and hedge funds hold a record short position bloomberg.com in US gas.
Equities & Tech
Stocks closed a volatile week lower wsj.com as inflation and AI jitters competed for investors' attention. The Nasdaq suffered its worst day wsj.com in a while before futures steadied. Hedge funds logged their widest daily drawdown since Covid bloomberg.com in the stock rout, and Calpers slashed Big Tech holdings ft.com. S&P Dow Jones Indices overhauled growth and value rules bloomberg.com, reshuffling index membership. Gold dropped below $4,000 ft.com as the haven asset joined the sell-off, and precious metals lost ground wsj.com as silver hit a new low for the year. Korean stocks have become twice as cheap bloomberg.com as Indonesia's after the tech selloff.
Autos & Industrials
Volvo shares plunged as much as 30% ft.com after the carmaker swung to a loss and announced 2,500 more job cuts wsj.com. GM posted its worst week bloomberg.com since 2023 amid a broader autos selloff. Kering slid roughly 10% ft.com after Gucci sales fell 6%, and European luxury giants trade at decade lows bloomberg.com. American Express raised its profit outlook wsj.com on stronger member spending, though it is also cutting 3,500 jobs wsj.com. Bombardier will invest $270 million wsj.com in US expansion, and Volvo's truck arm posted higher profit bloomberg.com on demand in North America and Europe.
Bonds & Rates
French bond risk rose another week bloomberg.com as the crisis deepened, though Moody's kept France's rating ft.com at Aa3 with a negative outlook. Treasury yields edged higher wsj.com as the French turmoil kept the spotlight. Yen hit a one-year high wsj.com against the euro. Municipal bond sales crossed $500 billion bloomberg.com at a record pace, and San Diego will leave bloomberg.com a muni bond group amid SEC scrutiny. Hedge funds lifted bearish euro bets bloomberg.com to the most since 2020.
Deals & Corporate
BASF raised its bid bloomberg.com for Evonik to over €11 billion. Barilla paid $750 million in cash bloomberg.com for Goodles. Citi won approval ft.com for its China securities business. LKQ ousted its CEO wsj.com and warned of a third-quarter shortfall. Jio's $3.1 billion IPO drew strong demand bloomberg.com despite a rout in India. Anthropic and Hg launched a European AI consultancy ft.com.
Coming Up
Brazil's presidential runoff is too close to call bloomberg.com, with polls tied. The UK government faces a budget ft.com decision on bank levies.
Private Equity
Last updated: October 23, 2026, 10:40 PM ET
Venture Capital & Startup Funding
Top investors from Iconiq and Sapphire Ventures, along with Superhuman Mail founder Rahul Vohra, are questioning the traditional red flags techcrunch.com used to judge product-market fit. Meanwhile, a new Carta and NewView partnership techcrunch.com aims to persuade more startups to let employees sell shares early. AI continued to dominate fundraising, as the week's ten largest rounds news.crunchbase.com showed a varied lineup of large AI-driven financings.
Private Equity Deals & Fundraising
Blackstone closed peinsights.substack.com its fifth energy fund at an $8.7bn hard cap. Ara Partners reached a final close peinsights.substack.com on its debut energy fund at $2.5bn. Goldman Sachs Alternatives agreed peinsights.substack.com to acquire a majority stake in Inflexion-backed Celnor, while TA Associates peinsights.substack.com took a majority stake in Belgian orthopaedic medtech Med Envision.
Institutional Investors & Returns
CalPERS, the $640bn California pension fund peinsights.substack.com is reducing its Big Tech exposure while leaning further into private equity. Tikehau Capital returned €2.2bn peinsights.substack.com to its limited partners so far this year, though it cautioned about its 2026 profit targets. Early backers of Anthropic are already sitting on substantial paper gains techcrunch.com ahead of its anticipated IPO.
Legal, Regulatory & Deal Flow
AI agents are creating new trade secret risks news.crunchbase.com by giving employees access to proprietary expertise. Among smaller rounds, robot training, space laser and greener cement news.crunchbase.com startups drew investor attention. In Europe, Oslo's tech scene sifted.eu continues to struggle to break out from Stockholm's shadow, and Nvidia's European startup investments sifted.eu are flowing largely back into Nvidia's own chips. Investors are also tracking promising early-stage Italian startups sifted.eu identified by VCs.
Sector Investment
Last updated: October 23, 2026, 3:40 PM ET
Real Estate Private Markets
The PERE Awards 2026 perenews.com are now accepting submissions, inviting industry input on the groups, individuals and events that made the greatest impact on the sector.
Healthcare Private Equity
Arcventis Health Partners has completed a majority growth investment thehealthcareinvestor.com in Aligned Modern Health, marking another deal in the healthcare and life sciences buyout landscape.
Digital Infrastructure
Digital infrastructure now dominates North American fundraising infrastructureinvestor.com, even as nearshoring policy priorities meet growing hurdles for data centre development.
Coming Up
The PERE Awards submission window perenews.com is currently open for industry nominations.