Public Markets 3 Hours

Last updated: August 21, 2026, 1:31 AM ET

Emerging-Market Equities

The tech rally across emerging-market stocks is broadening beyond chipmaking heavyweights, with smaller AI firms leading the rebound this month as investors rotate into names positioned to power data centers. In China, Shanghai's answer to Nasdaq is leaving rivals behind: the Star 50 index is up almost a quarter this year, outstripping Hong Kong amid a frenzy for the country's technology shares. The rally has even revived former laggards, as China materials stocks surged to the top of the market over the past month, with rallies in gold and copper transforming one of the year's weakest sectors into a market leader.

Asian Currencies

The Singapore dollar edged higher against its U.S. counterpart as traders questioned the efficacy of Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent's plans for the Treasury market. The Thai baht, by contrast, is expected to remain weak in the near term, underscoring widening divergence across Southeast Asian currencies.

US Treasuries

Wall Street investors have dismissed the bond buyback plan floated by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent as a "band-aid on a bullet hole," as he takes on bond vigilantes in the $32tn Treasury market. Critics argue that purchasing more long-term US debt does little to address the structural supply overhang pressuring yields. In the UK, Chancellor Healey has been warned to limit Budget borrowing amid a bond sell-off, with allies insisting the new chancellor plans to stay "well within" Labour's fiscal rules as gilt investors scrutinize the government's fiscal stance.

Australia's Bond Complex

Positions on three-year bond futures have climbed toward an all-time high as Australia's growing debt pile fuels demand for hedging among institutional investors. Offshore issuers are crowding in as well: Alphabet tapped the Australian market for the first time in August, borrowing billions through kangaroo bonds to help fund its artificial-intelligence spending, a signal of the country's growing appeal to global borrowers.

India: Rates Versus Growth

India bond traders were left reeling after surprisingly hawkish minutes from the Reserve Bank of India, and yields could drift higher as inflows from the foreign-currency deposit scheme begin to fade. The growth picture, however, looks sturdier than the central bank's own projections: Deputy Governor Poonam Gupta said India may expand closer to 7% in the financial year through March, ahead of the RBI's 6.7% forecast, a pace that would keep the economy among the world's fastest-growing.

Banks, Insurers and Legal

HSBC is spending $68mn on its biggest cull of senior bankers since the financial crisis, cutting 134 highly paid staff as Europe's largest lenders shed the largest number of top-tier employees since 2020. Asia's insurers are finding a buffer against China's policy shifts in the region's rising riches, which continue to accumulate faster than in most developed economies and underpin long-term demand for savings and protection products. On Wall Street, the recruiting wars have moved earlier than ever, with Big Law firms now courting students in the first semester of law school as competition for talent intensifies.

Consumer and Tech Ventures

Marc Lore's Wonder is betting that owning the entire process — from food production to delivery — will pay off, with the tech billionaire's $9bn vertical food platform targeting an IPO as it disrupts the restaurant industry. In Vietnam, police cleared PNJ of wrongdoing in its diamond import and distribution operations, according to preliminary findings from a wider probe into cross-border gem smuggling that has rattled the country's jewelry sector.

Energy

The current energy crisis will not save western oil refineries: North America and Europe are set to lose further refining capacity as investor wariness keeps capital away from the sector, extending a structural decline that predates the latest price spike.

Sports Business

The PGA Tour has unveiled a two-tier overhaul for 2028 as new management pushes to make golf more commercial in the aftermath of the LIV schism, though skeptics within the sport worry that billionaires now wield too much influence over its future.

Market Regulation

The head of CME Group publicly sparred with the chair of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, arguing that the agency must do more to prevent manipulation on prediction markets as trading startups grow in size and influence. The dispute highlights rising friction between established derivatives exchanges and regulators over oversight of the fast-expanding event-contracts space.

Politics and Policy

Hungary's new government under Peter Magyar threw open the prime minister's suite overlooking the Danube, hoping to present the office as evidence of an autocrat's indulgence, but the trappings fell short of what Hungarians expected. In the United States, Florida counted most of its primary ballots within hours on Tuesday night, well ahead of the days California needed to report results from its major election, renewing scrutiny of the state's slow tallying process.

Transport and Automation

London's cabbies are preparing to battle the arrival of robotaxis, with some drivers even considering skulduggery to expose the limits of autonomous vehicles as the capital braces for driverless competition on its streets.