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Last updated: October 26, 2026, 3:40 PM ET
Anthropic IPO
Anthropic is preparing its public listing, with the company's S-1 filing nytimes.com showing rapid growth alongside steep losses. The 240,000-word prospectus ft.com details $800bn in data-centre commitments, while skeptics argue that valuing the firm ft.com on its historic numbers is a fool's errand. Bloomberg reported the company plans a public filing bloomberg.com on Monday, and the risks and benefits nytimes.com the filing lays out have drawn wide attention. Analysts say the listing nytimes.com has become a litmus test for the AI trade.
Big Tech Financing and AI Concerns
Meta plans to raise up to $95 billion wsj.com to fund its AI growth, with Nvidia, AMD and Broadcom acting as cornerstone investors ft.com. SpaceX is also raising billions nytimes.com for its AI ambitions. Citadel Securities' Shah warned the AI trade has no margin for error bloomberg.com, and Core Weave's slide has prompted a broader market warning bloomberg.com. Musk predicted a "guppy-level death" nytimes.com for many AI infrastructure companies.
Brazil Markets
Brazilian assets sold off sharply after President Lula won a fourth term nytimes.com, defeating Flávio Bolsonaro. An ETF tracking Brazilian stocks fell 27% bloomberg.com in early trade, and a $6 billion equity pipeline bloomberg.com was derailed. The zloty bloomberg.com and other emerging currencies weakened as well, while soybeans and coffee slumped bloomberg.com on currency pressure.
Energy and Commodities
Oil prices fell back wsj.com as traders weighed US-Iran diplomacy and Saudi attacks, after Brent ft.com surged to $117 late last week. European gas hit a four-year high wsj.com on winter supply fears, while US natural gas futures slid to a six-month low bloomberg.com. Gold hovered below $4,000 wsj.com an ounce.
Deals and Corporate News
EQT agreed to buy Range Resources in a $50 billion gas deal ft.com, while Couche-Tard bid up to $8 billion bloomberg.com for Cumberland Farms. Microsoft will offer buyouts to 60,000 employees wsj.com. Jet Blue shares tumbled wsj.com as high fuel prices threaten its turnaround, and Galp Energia fell 8% wsj.com after merger talks with Moeve collapsed. Apollo took a minority stake ft.com in Abu Dhabi's Mubadala Capital.
Markets and Policy
US stock futures edged higher bloomberg.com ahead of big tech earnings and the Fed decision. Morgan Stanley expects data-centre ABS spreads bloomberg.com to widen further, and French bonds rebounded bloomberg.com after Moody's kept its rating. In the UK, NHS consultants in England will strike in November ft.com over pay, the first test for the Burnham government.
Coming Up
The Fed's rate decision and a week of big tech earnings wsj.com lie ahead. Ciena's AI bet faces a new earnings test wsj.com this week, and the UK's first Burnham budget bloomberg.com is expected to bring contrasting outcomes for sectors.
Private Equity
Last updated: October 26, 2026, 3:40 PM ET
Infrastructure & Services
Nordic Capital-backed Flowa expanded its UK water footprint peinsights.substack.com through its acquisition of Mercom, adding technology and services capacity to the sector. Elsewhere, Evertrace moved to bolster sifted.eu its founder-detection capabilities with the purchase of Veck.
Take-Privates & Buyouts
Francisco Partners completed its $650m peinsights.substack.com take-private of Weave Communications, bringing the cloud communications provider off public markets. Bain Capital will roll its stake peinsights.substack.com into a new structure within the $5.7bn Surgery Partners take-private led by a Bon Secours affiliate. In a competing bid, AVID outbid Warburg Pincus peinsights.substack.com for Ingenia with a sponsor-backed proposal.
Mega-Financing & Capital Raises
Apollo agreed to lead peinsights.substack.com an approximately $40bn financing for SpaceX's artificial intelligence compute build-out, one of the largest private debt commitments of the cycle. Man Group secured a $1.25bn commitment peinsights.substack.com through an expanded partnership with Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance. Nautic tapped existing LPs pei-secondariesinvestor.com Carlyle Alp Invest and Harbour Vest to lead a $3bn continuation vehicle.
Venture & Growth
Nevis raised $70m sifted.eu in a Series B led by EQT Ventures and Quantum Light to scale its AI wealth management software. Heartcore Capital led a $17m round sifted.eu for AI agent startup Nous. L Catterton made a strategic investment peinsights.substack.com in Glance, the AI shopping platform backed by InMobi. Strawberry launched its first full product sifted.eu, positioning it as a European alternative to US agent platforms.
Fund Data & Regional Trends
European tech funding posted a third consecutive record quarter sifted.eu, with Paris and Munich outpacing London. California startups have raised more news.crunchbase.com so far in 2026 than the entire US raised in any single prior year.
Governance & Leadership
Eurazeo handed sole control peinsights.substack.com of its executive board to Christophe Bavière in a governance overhaul. Revolut's CEO Nik Storonsky criticised venture investors sifted.eu as dangerous and said he had removed them from the board. Revolut's push into UK personal lending is being framed sifted.eu as a watershed test of whether it can challenge the major banks.
Founder Risk
Misstated traction carries personal exposure, as the Joonko guilty plea shows founders news.crunchbase.com can face liability for false claims about customers, revenue and AI capabilities.
Coming Up
Stage Two, the pan-European spinout summit, focuses this year sifted.eu on sovereignty in Berlin.
Sector Investment
Last updated: October 26, 2026, 3:40 PM ET
Fund Closings
Atlanta-based RCG Ventures perenews.com closed its largest-ever fund at $515m for value-add shopping center investments in the US. Sheridan Capital Partners closed Fund IV thehealthcareinvestor.com at $1.1 billion, while Town Lane hit its $1.9bn hard cap perenews.com for its second fund in just five months, a sign of strong investor demand for the co-founder Tyler Henritze's platform.
Leadership and Strategy
Former LaSalle CEO Mark Gabbay defended his tenure perenews.com, which steered the $87bn asset manager through the Covid pandemic and its aftermath, arguing the firm did not need a "wartime leader."
Infrastructure Deals
Blackstone's Stephen Schwarzman addressed opposition infrastructureinvestor.com to data centre expansion, while the EU opened scrutiny of a KKR deal and IFM agreed a £10bn UK ports acquisition.
Coming Up
The EU's review of the KKR transaction remains under way infrastructureinvestor.com following the regulator's probe.