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Last updated: October 27, 2026, 5:10 AM ET
Anthropic IPO and AI Trade
Global equities rose ft.com as the AI trade regained steam, with Asia following Wall Street higher after Anthropic's long-awaited IPO filing. The company's 240,000-word prospectus ft.com lays out steep losses alongside explosive growth, while Anthropic's revenue surge nytimes.com comes with even faster spending. Investors are weighing these figures closely, and Citadel Securities' Shah bloomberg.com warned the AI trade has no "margin for error."
Financing the AI Build-Out
Meta plans up to $95 billion wsj.com in financing to power its AI growth, with chipmakers Nvidia, AMD and Broadcom acting as cornerstone investors. A consortium of banks and Blackstone is lining up $63 billion in financing wsj.com for Broadcom's AI infrastructure, and Pimco bought a $4 billion slice bloomberg.com of a massive SpaceX AI debt package. US investment-grade issuance hit an annual record bloomberg.com on AI spending. Microsoft is offering buyouts to 60,000 staff ft.com as it spends up to $175bn on AI infrastructure.
Brazil Market Rout
Brazilian assets plunged after Lula's surprise election win wsj.com, with the main stock index hitting a two-month low. An ETF tracking Brazilian stocks fell 27% bloomberg.com at one point, and the shock result derailed $6 billion bloomberg.com in equity sales. The currency suffered its worst day in more than a year as concerns over economic management mounted.
Banking and Earnings
HSBC shares dipped ft.com despite quarterly profits jumping amid cost cuts, after the bank narrowly missed expectations and announced a $1 billion buyback wsj.com. The FTSE 100 was set to fall bloomberg.com on the miss. Nucor beat estimates bloomberg.com as higher steel prices lifted results, and Verizon raised its outlook wsj.com alongside a deal with Amazon worth more than $2 billion.
Commodities and Rates
Oil fell wsj.com in early Asian trade as diplomatic efforts eased US-Iran tensions. Gold dipped wsj.com as investors weighed a potential Federal Reserve rate hike this year. Iron ore dropped bloomberg.com to a two-year low on a weaker demand outlook, and China's five-year yield hit a record low bloomberg.com after a central bank cash injection.
Coming Up
Investors are awaiting the Federal Reserve's rate decision bloomberg.com, with gold holding near $4,000 an ounce ahead of the call. NHS consultants in England plan a strike in November ft.com, the first test of the Burnham government's public sector pay approach.
Private Equity
Last updated: October 27, 2026, 5:10 AM ET
Venture Funding & Startup Markets
European startup funding in Q3 2026 is shaping up as a notable quarter, with 55 rounds totaling $11bn sifted.eu reported so far. California startups have already raised more news.crunchbase.com in 2026 than the entire United States raised in any single prior year, capturing more than three-fourths of all U.S. startup capital. Fintech is drawing attention as Revolut pushes into UK lending sifted.eu, a move some observers call a watershed moment for the country's big banks. AI-powered wealthtech platform Nevis raised $70m sifted.eu in a Series B round backed by EQT Ventures and Quantum Light.
Mega-Deals & Infrastructure Financing
Apollo leads a roughly $40bn GPU financing peinsights.substack.com for SpaceX's artificial intelligence compute build-out, one of the largest financings of its kind. In the IPO market, Anthropic's S-1 filing offers a detailed look news.crunchbase.com at revenue, risks and losses ahead of what could be the largest IPO on record.
Take-Privates & Buyouts
Francisco Partners completed its $650m take-private peinsights.substack.com of Weave Communications. Bain Capital will roll its stake peinsights.substack.com into a new structure as a Bon Secours affiliate takes Surgery Partners private in a $5.7bn transaction. In the UK, AVID Property Group outbid Warburg Pincus peinsights.substack.com for Ingenia with a sponsor-backed proposal.
Asset Managers & Investment Commitments
Man Group secured a $1.25bn commitment peinsights.substack.com from Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance, expanding a February 2025 partnership. Eurazeo handed sole executive control peinsights.substack.com to Christophe Bavière in a governance shake-up.
Portfolio Companies & Dealmaking
Nordic Capital-backed Flowa expanded in UK water peinsights.substack.com with its acquisition of Mercom. L Catterton invested in Glance peinsights.substack.com, the AI-powered shopping platform backed by InMobi. Evertrace acquired Veck sifted.eu to strengthen its early founder detection capabilities.
Governance & Founder Accountability
Revolut CEO Nik Storonsky criticized venture capitalists sifted.eu as dangerous and said he removed them from the company's board. The guilty plea in the Joonko case raises personal liability news.crunchbase.com concerns for founders who make false claims about customers, revenue or AI capabilities.
Leadership & Strategy
Charles Maddock of Strawberry discussed lessons sifted.eu from Anton Osika and the firm's U.S. expansion plans. Separately, a Sifted analysis argues that AI is taking over sifted.eu routine decisions, leaving leaders to handle the harder judgment calls.
Coming Up
The Anthropic IPO could become news.crunchbase.com the largest IPO on record once its S-1 process advances.
Sector Investment
Last updated: October 26, 2026, 11:10 PM ET
Infrastructure Investment
Liberty Mutual Investments has added three infrastructure credit partnerships infrastructureinvestor.com in a short span, with the insurer's investment arm emphasizing flexibility in how it commits capital. The rapid pace of commitments reflects a broader appetite among insurers for infrastructure debt as a source of steady, long-duration yield. Separately, Blackstone, KKR and IFM infrastructureinvestor.com are in the spotlight, with Blackstone's Stephen Schwarzman addressing growing opposition to data centre projects, the EU opening a probe into a KKR transaction, and IFM agreeing a £10bn UK ports deal.
Real Estate Private Equity
Shopping centre specialist RCG Ventures closed its largest fund to date perenews.com, raising $515m for value-add investments in US multi-tenant retail. Town Lane closed its second fund perenews.com at a $1.9bn hard cap, a result the manager reached in just five months, underscoring strong investor demand for the platform co-founded by former Blackstone executive Tyler Henritze. On the leadership front, former LaSalle CEO Mark Gabbay defended his tenure perenews.com, arguing the $87bn manager did not need a wartime leader as it navigated the pandemic and its aftermath.
Healthcare Investment
Sheridan Capital Partners closed Fund IV thehealthcareinvestor.com at $1.1 billion, adding another sizeable healthcare-focused vehicle to the fundraising tally for the period.
Coming Up
The EU's probe into the KKR deal is now underway infrastructureinvestor.com, with regulators expected to scrutinise the transaction's terms.