Markets 24-Hour Briefing
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Last updated: October 22, 2026, 3:40 PM ET
Energy & Commodities
Silver futures wsj.com fell 4.6% in New York to $54.764 a troy ounce, their lowest level this year, as oil-driven inflation fears weighed on metals. Gold bloomberg.com also slid to its lowest in more than two months as escalating Middle East hostilities pushed energy costs higher. Brent crude wsj.com climbed above $111 a barrel after attacks on Saudi Arabia renewed supply worries, while physical barrels bloomberg.com diverged from futures prices. Qatar agreed bloomberg.com to buy US LNG through 2054 as the conflict upends supply, and China's petrochemical glut bloomberg.com is turning into a shortage after months of war. US natural gas futures wsj.com were little changed ahead of inventory data, while German gas use bloomberg.com hit a nine-month high as cold weather lifted power demand. Palm oil bloomberg.com is attracting Indian buyers on a widening price gap against rivals, and copper bloomberg.com slumped as LME inventories surged.
Fixed Income & Rates
Treasury yields wsj.com fell to their lowest since September as worries about French debt drove a haven bid. French bond spreads bloomberg.com widened to a 15-year high, and foreign investors wsj.com appear to be heading for the exit. Hedging costs bloomberg.com against further Treasury gains surged to their highest level in a while, and DoubleLine's Jeff Sherman bloomberg.com remains bearish on long-term Treasuries. Rising US yields ft.com are straining Europe's economy, and Brazil hedging costs bloomberg.com spiked as election anxiety grew. Bank of England bloomberg.com rate expectations beyond November remain clouded by energy uncertainty.
Equities
Stocks fell nytimes.com as tech earnings spooked investors, while Meta's sell-off ft.com dragged US tech lower after the company forecast higher AI spending. Meta will split its stock wsj.com and create a new share class to fund AI investment, and Meta was ordered nytimes.com to pay $25 billion over Cambridge Analytica privacy violations. US stocks rallied wsj.com as strong SpaceX earnings eased AI concerns, and SpaceX and Tesla wsj.com are weighing a merger. Tesla profit slumped nytimes.com even as cash flow improved. Chinese stocks bloomberg.com tumbled into a bear market, with $2.4 trillion lost, and Alibaba bloomberg.com led Hong Kong's tech slide. Jio's IPO bloomberg.com drew overwhelming demand on day one even as the Nifty struggled, and MiniMax bloomberg.com erased its post-IPO gains.
Banking & Finance
UBS prevailed against two former Credit Suisse managing directors' back-pay claims. Barclays cut 5,000 jobs ft.com as it steps up AI adoption, after third-quarter profit fell short, and Barclays' pretax profit wsj.com missed estimates on fixed-income weakness. Blackstone profit dropped 9.2% bloomberg.com as higher rates curbed dealmaking, and Blackstone cut property valuations ft.com. EQT agreed ft.com to acquire German diagnostics group Qiagen in a €10.8bn take-private, and LSEG is nearing ft.com a $3.5 billion deal for credit data specialist Octus. Arini Capital ft.com losses mounted as its master fund shed about 7% in October.
Industrials, Consumer & Autos
American Airlines wsj.com forecast another quarterly loss on surging fuel costs, and Southwest cut wsj.com its earnings outlook. Lockheed Martin raised wsj.com its yearly outlook as backlog hit a record, and Thales lifted wsj.com its sales forecast on a defense order surge. Carrier plans wsj.com a $600 million Texas plant for AI data-center cooling gear. Union Pacific wsj.com posted higher profit on volume growth, and Honeywell Technologies wsj.com raised its full-year outlook. Toyota wsj.com faces short supply of its most popular SUV. Hermès sales growth slowed ft.com against a tough luxury backdrop, and Kering's revenues fell ft.com as Gucci sales dropped. Prada sales cooled wsj.com as the luxury recovery faded. Procter & Gamble wsj.com logged higher sales that offset fuel costs, and L'Oréal wsj.com eyes a profit rise this year.
Technology & Telecom
Nokia wsj.com reported continued strength from AI and data-center rollouts, with network sales up 17%. Comcast wsj.com continued to lose domestic broadband subscribers. Google nytimes.com is funding one of the nation's largest virtual power plants to supply AI data centers. Apple's cash flow bloomberg.com has made it investors' favored AI hedge, and AI stocks slid wsj.com after earnings disappointed. SAP wsj.com is working on a metric to convey AI's business impact. Anthropic's debut bloomberg.com has the US IPO market stuck, and SpaceX, Anthropic and Nvidia wsj.com helped snap tech stocks out of their malaise. Meta is weighing wsj.com creative funding for its massive AI investments.
Policy, Legal & Geopolitics
Trump was ordered to face BBC questioning in his $10bn defamation lawsuit. A judge restricted nytimes.com DHS field operations aimed at unearthing voter fraud. The Trump administration asked nytimes.com the Supreme Court to allow border wall construction in Big Bend. US and Israeli planners nytimes.com are drawing up renewed strikes on Iran after elections. Afghanistan and Pakistan nytimes.com have entered open conflict through proxy groups. The US ordered ft.com some personnel to leave Saudi Arabia after Houthi attacks. Ukraine will buy ft.com military supplies through a NATO agency. India has spent ft.com about $90bn to prop up the rupee. Evergrande's liquidators bloomberg.com plan a first creditor payout next year, and they are pursuing ft.com Harvard to recover a donation. Vance defended nytimes.com a Ramaswamy ad featuring Amy Acton's mother despite backlash.
Food, Health & Other
Ebola's outbreak nytimes.com in Africa has reached its widest expansion ever. A screwworm parasite bloomberg.com was confirmed in a Texas elk, the first wildlife case. A magnitude-7.0 earthquake bloomberg.com struck China's Tibet region. Chocolate and beef prices ft.com are rising in the UK as poor cocoa harvests and smaller cattle herds push costs up. Mortgage rates nytimes.com remain above 7%, pushing home prices lower in some areas.
Coming Up
The US midterm elections are less than a month away bloomberg.com, and Wall Street is bracing for their market impact. Brazil's presidential runoff is set for October 25 bloomberg.com. ASX plans to unveil bloomberg.com more details of its strategy in 2027.
Private Equity
Last updated: October 22, 2026, 3:40 PM ET
Mega-Deals & Take-Privates
EQT has agreed to take QIAGEN private peinsights.substack.com in a €10.8bn transaction backed by ADIA and CPP Investments, valuing the life sciences tools group at a substantial premium. KKR, meanwhile, is carving out explosion safety businesses peinsights.substack.com from Hoerbiger, acquiring IEP Technologies and Newson Gale through its Global Impact strategy.
Infrastructure & Real Assets
Stonepeak has completed its acquisition peinsights.substack.com of Chicago Parking Meters from a consortium of sellers. Ares Management has secured a €1.5bn equity commitment peinsights.substack.com from Norges Bank Investment Management for a European logistics partnership. IFM Investors has named Michael Kulper pehub.com head of its North America infrastructure business, a senior appointment for the Australian fund manager's infrastructure franchise.
Venture Funding & Early-Stage Deals
Slingshot Insurance has raised $27M in seed funding news.crunchbase.com to build an AI-native insurer for small policies sold at checkout. In Zurich, Enact Intelligence drew backing sifted.eu from Yann LeCun and Arthur Mensch in a $30m pre-seed round. Italian startups, according to fresh data, are growing up sifted.eu, with larger early-stage rounds and more late-stage money flowing in.
Founders & Fundraising
Top investors are breaking down techcrunch.com what founders need to raise a Series A in today's market. Sifted profiled Aaron Rosenberg, the investor DeepMind researchers sifted.eu reportedly call before they leave the lab. Ireland's AI sector, meanwhile, needs breakout successes sifted.eu to match its buzz.
Secondaries & Market Sentiment
Sun Hung Kai & Co has backed Clipway and Aquilius pei-secondariesinvestor.com as part of its push into secondaries. Acquirers are snapping up boom-era startups news.crunchbase.com that have not raised funding in years, a sign of distressed opportunity in the late-cycle market. A Crunchbase guest column argues the AI IPO wave news.crunchbase.com resembles the dot-com bubble, pointing to Anthropic's delayed listing as evidence.
Coming Up
Founders can catch the TechCrunch Founder Summit techcrunch.com in Boston on November 4.
Sector Investment
Last updated: October 22, 2026, 3:40 PM ET
Private Markets
Apollo's infrastructure head, Olivia Wassenaar, describes a deal-first approach infrastructureinvestor.com built on collaboration and flexible capital rather than rigid internal silos.
US Renewables
Managers are reworking their US renewables strategies infrastructureinvestor.com as surging electricity demand collides with shifting market conditions.