Markets 24-Hour Briefing
×Public Markets
Last updated: October 26, 2026, 11:10 PM ET
Central Bank & Macro Outlook
Gold wsj.com edged lower in Asian trade as investors weighed the possibility of a Federal Reserve rate hike this year, while bullion holding near $4,000 bloomberg.com ahead of the Fed decision. Indonesia's rupiah defense may require Bank Indonesia to deploy more aggressive measures, including further rate increases. Poland's zloty bloomberg.com slumped to its weakest level in nearly three years amid a deepening row with the central bank.
Brazil Election Fallout
Markets in Brazil convulsed nytimes.com after President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva secured a fourth term, with the main stock index dropping to a two-month low. Brazilian stocks bloomberg.com saw an ETF tracking the market plunge 27% in early trade, and equity sales worth about $6 billion bloomberg.com were derailed. Investors had positioned for a victory by Jair Bolsonaro's camp, and fiscal fears ft.com now center on whether Lula will add to spending pressure. Soybeans and coffee bloomberg.com fell as the currency weakened, and an opinion piece argued that markets do not vote for Lula wsj.com.
Anthropic IPO & AI Financing
Anthropic files its prospectus ft.com, a 240,000-word document that lays out explosive growth alongside steep losses, and the key numbers nytimes.com show rapid revenue growth alongside even faster spending. The company warned it may need more financing sooner bloomberg.com than expected. Tech shares rallied on the news, with Asian markets extending the gains bloomberg.com. Meta plans up to $95 billion wsj.com in financing to fund its AI growth, and a coalition of banks wsj.com is lining up $63 billion in financing for Broadcom AI technology. Pimco bought a $4 billion slice bloomberg.com of a massive SpaceX AI debt package, while AI funding drove bloomberg.com US high-grade bond sales to an annual record. Citadel's Shah warned bloomberg.com that the AI trade has no margin for error, and CoreWeave's rout bloomberg.com was flagged as a warning sign for the broader market.
Corporate Deals & Earnings
Door Dash is in advanced talks to acquire Instacart wsj.com in a deal that could be completed as soon as this week and value Instacart at around $17 billion. Microsoft will offer buyouts wsj.com to 60,000 employees as it moves to control costs while spending heavily on AI infrastructure. Nucor beat estimates bloomberg.com on higher steel prices, and Whirlpool plunged bloomberg.com after cutting its outlook for the third time this year. EQT agreed to buy Range Resources ft.com in a $50 billion natural gas megadeal that would create the largest US gas producer. Frasers Group took a majority stake wsj.com in Hugo Boss, and Galp Energia shares fell 8% after merger talks with Moeve collapsed wsj.com. Verizon raised its outlook wsj.com and signed an Amazon deal worth more than $2 billion. Apollo took a minority stake ft.com in Abu Dhabi's Mubadala Capital.
Energy & Commodities
Oil declined for a second day, pulling back from a six-month high, as traders weighed US-Iran diplomacy and Saudi attacks wsj.com. The international benchmark eased ft.com after soaring to $117 late last week. European gas wsj.com climbed above 97 euros per megawatt-hour, its highest in four years, on winter supply fears. US natural gas futures bloomberg.com fell to a six-month low on a warm winter forecast. Gasoline prices bloomberg.com under President Trump have overtaken Biden-era averages ahead of the midterms. Wheat erased its Black Sea premium bloomberg.com as Russia signaled shipping talks. Singapore will store Saudi oil ft.com in underground caverns under an agreement with Saudi Aramco.
Policy, Politics & Regulation
A federal judge ruled nytimes.com that the Trump administration unlawfully fired Maurene Comey, while the Justice Department brought more charges against James B. Comey. Brazil's Supreme Court ordered nytimes.com the seizure of Flávio Bolsonaro's passport in a money laundering inquiry. The UK's telecoms intervention powers ft.com are under debate as Lisa Nandy warned about the sector's financial fragility. Trump's wind campaign ft.com threatens a permitting bill, and an EU loan to Airbus threatens the trade truce ft.com with the US, according to a Trump trade official. Netanyahu reportedly pushed nytimes.com for an attack on Iran ahead of the Israeli election, and Israel stands accused nytimes.com of genocidal acts in Gaza by a UN human rights panel. Machado returned to Venezuela nytimes.com after nearly a year in exile. Democrats see a rare chance nytimes.com to reshape the Senate map.
Coming Up
The Fed's rate decision bloomberg.com and this week's big tech earnings are the next major catalysts for markets. Anthropic's public filing bloomberg.com is slated for Monday, and NHS consultants in England plan to strike ft.com in November. Voters head to the polls on November 3 for the US midterms, when a Democratic win is seen heralding bloomberg.com a bond rally.
Private Equity
Last updated: October 26, 2026, 11:10 PM ET
Mega-Deals & Take-Privates
Francisco Partners has completed its $650m take-private peinsights.substack.com of Weave Communications, bringing the cloud communications software company off public markets. Bain Capital will roll its stake peinsights.substack.com in Surgery Partners into a new structure tied to a $5.7bn take-private by a Bon Secours affiliate, a deal that keeps a significant sponsor position in the hospital operator.
Infrastructure & Real Assets
AVID Property Group outbid Warburg Pincus peinsights.substack.com for Ingenia with a sponsor-backed proposal, backed by a global sovereign wealth fund and a global financial institution. Nordic Capital-backed Flowa expanded in UK water peinsights.substack.com through its acquisition of Mercom, adding services to its water infrastructure technology platform.
Mega-Financing & AI Infrastructure
Apollo agreed to lead an approximately $40bn financing peinsights.substack.com for SpaceX's artificial intelligence compute build-out, one of the largest private credit commitments tied to GPU capacity. Man Group secured a $1.25bn commitment peinsights.substack.com from Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance, expanding a February 2025 partnership and reinforcing long-dated capital flows into alternative asset management.
Fund Governance & Leadership
Eurazeo handed sole control peinsights.substack.com of its executive board to Christophe Bavière, consolidating decision-making at the Paris-listed investment firm. L Catterton made a strategic investment peinsights.substack.com in Glance, the AI-powered shopping platform run by InMobi.
Venture & Growth Funding
EQT Ventures and Quantum Light backed wealthtech platform Nevis sifted.eu in a $70m Series B to scale its AI wealth management software. Heartcore Capital led a $17m raise sifted.eu for AI agent startup Nous, while Evertrace acquired Veck sifted.eu to strengthen its early founder detection capabilities. Europe posted a third consecutive record quarter sifted.eu for tech funding, with Paris and Munich outpacing London.
Public Market Spillovers & IPO Pipeline
Anthropic filed an S-1 news.crunchbase.com ahead of what could become the largest IPO on record, with the filing laying out revenue, risks and losses. California startups have raised more so far in 2026 news.crunchbase.com than the entire United States did in any single year, capturing more than three-fourths of U.S. startup funding.
Regulation & Founder Risk
A guilty plea in the Joonko case highlights personal exposure news.crunchbase.com for founders who overstate customers, revenue or AI capabilities. Revolut's CEO Nik Storonsky criticized venture investors sifted.eu as dangerous and said he removed them from the company's board, while Revolut's UK lending push sifted.eu into personal loans is seen as a test of whether it can challenge the big banks.
Coming Up
Anthropic's IPO process news.crunchbase.com now moves forward following its S-1 filing.
Sector Investment
Last updated: October 26, 2026, 11:10 PM ET
Infrastructure Investment
Liberty Mutual Investments has added three infrastructure credit partnerships infrastructureinvestor.com in a short span, with the insurer's investment arm emphasizing flexibility in how it commits capital. The rapid pace of commitments reflects a broader appetite among insurers for infrastructure debt as a source of steady, long-duration yield. Separately, Blackstone, KKR and IFM infrastructureinvestor.com are in the spotlight, with Blackstone's Stephen Schwarzman addressing growing opposition to data centre projects, the EU opening a probe into a KKR transaction, and IFM agreeing a £10bn UK ports deal.
Real Estate Private Equity
Shopping centre specialist RCG Ventures closed its largest fund to date perenews.com, raising $515m for value-add investments in US multi-tenant retail. Town Lane closed its second fund perenews.com at a $1.9bn hard cap, a result the manager reached in just five months, underscoring strong investor demand for the platform co-founded by former Blackstone executive Tyler Henritze. On the leadership front, former LaSalle CEO Mark Gabbay defended his tenure perenews.com, arguing the $87bn manager did not need a wartime leader as it navigated the pandemic and its aftermath.
Healthcare Investment
Sheridan Capital Partners closed Fund IV thehealthcareinvestor.com at $1.1 billion, adding another sizeable healthcare-focused vehicle to the fundraising tally for the period.
Coming Up
The EU's probe into the KKR deal is now underway infrastructureinvestor.com, with regulators expected to scrutinise the transaction's terms.