Public Markets 3h Briefing
×Last updated: August 12, 2026, 8:44 AM ET
Equities
U.S. equity futures edged higher Wednesday morning as traders awaited a crucial inflation report nytimes.com. Performance Food logged higher sales and profit in its fiscal fourth quarter as both costs and prices increased. Brinker International also reported rising profit and revenue, fueled by momentum at its Chili’s brand. Shares of India’s Tata Group companies erased 433 billion rupees ($4.5 billion) in market value after Chairman Natarajan Chandrasekaran announced his planned exit. Optical component makers surged as optical stocks bloomberg.com re-emerged as a momentum play on rising confidence in AI spending. Norway’s $2.3 trillion sovereign wealth fund delivered a record first-half return; its CEO said the performance is “as good as it gets” and that he is now more nervous. Separately, the WSJ reported the fund’s portfolio returned 9.4%, earning a profit of nearly $185 billion before currency effects, buoyed by Asia tech stocks — the full article is here.
Fixed Income & Macro
Treasury yields edged down overnight as traders priced in the latest inflation data. A benign CPI reading would reduce urgency around a September rate rise, while a stronger-than-forecast number would revive rate-hike concerns. The bond market wsj.com also inflated the Powerball jackpot to $1 billion as yields affected annuity pricing. Homeowners nytimes.com tight on cash are tapping into their home equity at an increasing pace. The labor market nytimes.com slowed as employers grew wary of hiring, adding to the softening picture. India’s inflation bloomberg.com held within the RBI’s 2%-6% target range in July, supporting expectations for a prolonged pause on interest rates. China’s commodity markets are defying the economic rulebook by surviving on lower prices, complicating Beijing’s struggle with weak inflation.
Currencies & Commodities
The U.S. dollar was mixed ahead of the CPI release. The Japanese yen weakened after stronger-than-forecast U.S. inflation would renew rate-hike fears; the yen bloomberg.com level is being closely watched alongside katsu curry prices. South African bonds attracted foreign investors at the fastest pace since January as the rand carry trade became the month’s most lucrative EM carry. Energy prices are expected to fall in the latest inflation data, though the war with Iran has injected volatility into oil and gas markets — see NYT article nytimes.com. A Colombian earthquake ft.com disrupted a key coffee export road, pausing operations at the port handling most of the country’s bean shipments.
Corporate & Sector
Carnival’s CFO wsj.com discussed restoring the company’s balance sheet after the pandemic, focusing on debt reduction. GM wsj.com set a $4.5 billion supply-chain safety net to guard against future disruptions. Energy startup Form Energy wsj.com raised $750 million for rust-powered iron-air batteries that can run for 100 hours continuously, pushing total fundraising past $2 billion. A judge dismissed Adani fraud charges in a risk report that also covered flight-tracking platform suing Kalshi. New York City launched a sweeping investigation into Polymarket and Kalshi wsj.com over their marketing practices. Meanwhile, exchange operator MEMX bloomberg.com filed to list prediction-market-style binary bets on corporate earnings metrics. Xero’s CEO wsj.com shared leadership lessons learned from a tennis legend.
Market Roundups
In technology, media and telecom, analyst insights covered Samsung Electronics, Life360, and CoreWeave wsj.com. The energy and utilities roundup included commentary on E.ON and Channel Infrastructure wsj.com. The auto and transport roundup featured updates on TKMS, Austal, and Yangzijiang Maritime wsj.com. Emerging-market stocks rose led by tech, as currency traders awaited the U.S. CPI; read the full emerging markets report bloomberg.com.