Public Markets 3d Briefing
×Market Turmoil
US stock futures bloomberg.com tumbled, extending the worst weekly drop since October, as oil’s surge past $100 stoked inflation fears. The selling pressure intensified, with European blue chips bloomberg.com heading for a correction and the S&P 500 bloomberg.com facing volatility ahead of quarterly rebalancing that will add Vertiv, Lumentum, Coherent, and Echo Star. A global bond rout bloomberg.com grew as investors priced in higher inflation, while Wall Street’s safety net bloomberg.com of diversified strategies showed signs of strain under the war’s pressure.
Commodity Shocks
Oil prices bloomberg.com neared $120 a barrel, sparking a “stampede to sell” in stocks and bonds before paring gains on speculation about strategic reserve releases. The effective closure wsj.com of the Strait of Hormuz triggered the most severe energy crisis since the 1970s, trapping shipments and forcing Saudi Arabia to cut production bloomberg.com as storage filled. Meanwhile, Chicago wheat futures wsj.com jumped nearly 5% from pre-conflict levels, driven by surging fertilizer and fuel costs that threaten global food supply chains.
IPOs & Listings
Gabler Group bloomberg.com, a submarine components supplier, saw its shares rise 13.6% on its Frankfurt debut, buoyed by defense demand. Victory Giant Technology bloomberg.com, a Chinese circuit board maker, is planning a Hong Kong listing that could raise over $2 billion as soon as April. Separately, Nasdaq wsj.com is seeking approval for 24/7 tokenized stock trading, a move that could reshape market structure, while India’s Greenko Energies bloomberg.com weighs a $1 billion Mumbai IPO.
Regional Impacts
South African bonds bloomberg.com plunged in their worst selloff since Covid as oil’s surge and a weaker rand fueled inflation fears. In Asia, Mainland investors bloomberg.com bought a record HK$37.2 billion of Hong Kong shares through the trading link, reversing last week’s selloff. Chinese sovereign bonds bloomberg.com slumped on imported inflation worries, even as Israel’s markets bloomberg.com rallied with the shekel and stocks surging despite the ongoing war.
Corporate Actions
European banks bloomberg.com topped estimates in a mixed earnings season, buoyed by trading income and cost control. Agilent Technologies bloomberg.com agreed to buy Biocare Medical for $950 million, expanding its cancer research tools. The S&P 500 will add four new members later this month, while UBS bloomberg.com raised its bonus pool 10% as the Credit Suisse integration nears completion. Banks face higher SRT sales costs bloomberg.com as economic uncertainty rises.
Macro & Policy
The G7 ft.com is discussing a joint emergency oil reserve release to calm markets, and the U.S. unveiled a $20 billion reinsurance plan bloomberg.com to revive Hormuz shipping. Traders bloomberg.com amplified bets on ECB and BO