Public Markets 8-Hour Briefing
×Market Moves
The S&P 500 edged higher Tuesday as traders assessed the outlook for the artificial-intelligence "scare trade" that pummeled the market the prior session. US natural gas futures declined in thin trading as weather forecasts shifted warmer, indicating lower demand for heating and power-plant fuel. Emerging-market stocks scaled another record high Tuesday, as fresh gains in Asian tech allowed the sector to shrug off the AI concerns that have weighed on Wall Street.
AI Disruption Fears
Energy and utilities emerged as big winners from fears that artificial intelligence will upend the software industry. Goldman Sachs said markets are rewarding "heavy asset, low obsolescence" firms as AI disruption fears grow. Fear of AI's potential for disruption is enough to push up borrowing costs for software companies, causing problems for a sector that has a lot of debt, according to Arini Capital Management's founder.
Corporate News
Stripe reached a $159 billion valuation in an employee tender offer as payment volume soared. Medtronic's diabetes management unit is seeking to raise as much as $784 million in an initial public offering. Novo Nordisk plans to slash US list prices for its blockbusters Wegovy and Ozempic next year as the drugmaker struggles to claw back a larger share of the obesity market.
Tech Sector
Meta and AMD announced a 6-gigawatt GPU deal as part of AI buildout, sending AMD stock surging 14%. Samsung rallied toward a 200% gain as AI chip demand accelerated. Digital Ocean surged on earnings beat and raised outlook, while Keurig Dr Pepper shares rose after earnings beat and strong guidance.
Policy & Macro
Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago President Austan Goolsbee said he is a little more concerned about inflation right now because the job market appears "pretty steady." Hungary's central bank cut its key interest rate for the first time in almost a year and a half, after the inflation rate fell below the central bank's target. JPMorgan Chase said it will remove the United Arab Emirates from its emerging-market bond indexes by June after the Middle Eastern nation exceeded the bank's measures of wealth for three successive years.
Energy Markets
US crude shipments scraped a gain to offset pipeline losses to Hungary and Slovakia. Russia is turning to bigger tankers as more of its oil goes to China, shifting some shipments from smaller to larger tankers at a new at-sea site. European natural-gas prices fell as prospects of milder weather and higher imports eased concerns over supply.
Global Developments
Canada's aviation regulator certified the remaining Gulfstream private jet models that US President Donald Trump said the country had declined to approve. The European Union will on April 15 unveil a proposal to ban the remaining imports of Russian oil, just three days after elections in Hungary. The African Development Bank is working on a new risk-assessment framework that will help it unlock more capital for investments.
Deal Activity
Brookfield Asset Management bought cloud-computing firm Ori Industries in a bet that governments and tech companies will need chips to win an escalating artificial-intelligence race. CECO Environmental has agreed to acquire Thermon Group Holdings as the filtration company looks to enter the thermal solutions market amid booming demand from data centers. The Raine Group hired a former Credit Suisse IPO veteran, betting on 2026 being a blockbuster year for technology debuts and fundraising.