Public Markets 3d Briefing
×Last updated: March 14, 2026, 6:30 PM ET
Energy & Commodities
Oil futures slipped 1.3% ft.com in early Asian trade as OPEC+ signaled potential output increases, while gold held steady nytimes.com near $2,340/oz despite a weakening dollar. In fixed income, Japanese government bonds extended their rally bloomberg.com tracking overnight gains in U.S. Treasurys as traders priced in a September Fed rate cut.
A surge in aluminum prices bloomberg.com catapulted China Hongqiao's Zhang Bo to a $48 billion fortune, making him one of Asia's wealthiest industrialists. Meanwhile, Madison Air nytimes.com filed for a Nasdaq IPO targeting a $500 million valuation, buoyed by three consecutive quarters of double-digit revenue growth in the private aviation charter market.
Financial Markets
Blackstone wsj.com arranged a $1.2 billion credit facility for Air Trunk's expansion into Japanese data centers, part of a broader push by private equity into AI infrastructure assets across Asia-Pacific. The London Stock Exchange bloomberg.com is seeking to sell as much as $3 billion of high-grade U.S. corporate bonds as soon as early next week, according to people with knowledge of the transaction.
Geopolitics & Oil Markets
American producers stand to be among the biggest beneficiaries if crude prices average $100 a barrel this year, with U.S. oil groups in line for $63 billion windfall ft.com from Gulf disruption. Higher energy prices might vex the economy, but they provide a financial boost for some states, helping to close budget deficits and fix roads.
The Trump administration approved a $5 billion ultra-deepwater oil drilling plan nytimes.com in the Gulf of Mexico, expected to produce up to 10 billion barrels of oil by the end of this decade. Critics warn it could endanger people and marine life, while supporters argue it's essential for energy independence.
Middle East Crisis Impact
The Strait of Hormuz remains effectively shut down, with commercial vessel traffic at historic lows bloomberg.com as Iran lashes out across the region. A Greek shipowner sent a second oil tanker through the strait bloomberg.com, bucking industry caution as Iran retaliates against U.S. and Israeli attacks.
The war has caused the largest oil supply disruption in history, with the International Energy Agency slashing its oil supply growth forecast wsj.com a day after a historic emergency stock release. Brent crude closed above $100 bloomberg.com for the second straight session, ending at the highest level in more than three years.
Asian Markets
State Grid Corp. of China said it's accelerating investment in power grids bloomberg.com as Beijing pushes to stabilize growth and expand infrastructure spending. Chinese travelers took a record number of domestic trips bloomberg.com during the Spring Festival Travel season, according to Xinhua News Agency.
JSW Steel Ltd., India's biggest steelmaker by capacity, won rights to develop a coal mine bloomberg.com in Mozambique's Tete province, securing access to a key raw material used in steel manufacturing. However, Indian stocks capped their worst weekly performance bloomberg.com since June 2022 as escalating Middle East tensions sent oil prices surging.
European Markets
BNP Paribas SA is holding discussions with investors bloomberg.com about a potential significant risk transfer tied to about €2.5 billion ($2.9 of corporate loans. The London Stock Exchange Group's bond sale and BNP's risk transfer discussions highlight how European financial institutions are adapting to heightened market volatility.
Latin American Markets
Peru left interest rates unchanged after inflation accelerated above the midpoint of its target range for the first time in more than a year. Colombia's presidential candidate Paloma Valencia appointed Juan Daniel Oviedo bloomberg.com as her running mate, signaling a focus on economic expertise in her campaign.
African Markets
S&P Global Ratings cut Botswana's credit score bloomberg.com late Friday, maintaining investment grade but citing risks to fiscal stability amid diamond industry woes. Mali is establishing a mining task force bloomberg.com with judicial powers to oversee gold mining and quarrying sites in the West African nation.
Technology & Innovation
GE Vernova Inc. and Hitachi Ltd. agreed to explore opportunities bloomberg.com to deploy small modular nuclear reactors in Southeast Asia. SoftBank Group-backed Pay Pay Corp. is open to a dual listing bloomberg.com with a presence on Tokyo's bourse after its $880 million trading debut in New York.
Corporate Developments
Honda bloomberg.com Motor Co. expects charges of up to ¥2.5 trillion ($15.7 as it rethinks its electric vehicle strategy, with the Japanese carmaker joining a growing list of global brands battered by the EV market downturn. Rivian Automotive Inc. said electric-vehicle shoppers will have to wait until at least 2027 for the company to sell an SUV for less than $50,000.
Regulatory & Legal
A Malaysian lawmaker said a probe into the shareholdings of bloomberg.com the country's anti-graft chief Azam Baki allegedly uncovered that he owned shares worth 14 million ringgit ($3.6 in nine companies. Mota-Engil SGPS SA said short-seller Muddy Waters has filed a civil defamation lawsuit in the U.S. against the company and its chief executive officer.
Market Sentiment
Financial stocks are bloomberg.com off to their worst start to a year since the Covid pandemic, with investors expecting more pain ahead as worries over everything from private credit to the Iran war roil the troubled sector. Treasuries volatility jumped to a nine-month high as the Iran war fanned inflation concerns and upended traders' expectations on the Federal Reserve's policy path.
Private credit bloomberg.com funds have turned to retail investors, who are not used to having their money tied up when things go wrong, raising concerns about liquidity in the $3 trillion market. The yen is hovering near its weakest level of the year against the dollar, while traders see a higher threshold for official intervention this time around.