Private Credit’s Hidden Software Risk
Top private credit funds Apollo, Ares, Blackstone, and Blue Owl understate software exposure, averaging 25% vs. 19% reported. Blackstone leads at 33%, Blue Owl nearly doubles its reported share. Rising AI fears make this sector a key driver of record fund withdrawals, highlighting larger-than-expected risks. Source: Will Schryver, The Wall Street Journal, Global Markets Investor
Strong earnings with multiple contraction. That’s 2026 in a nutshell.
Source: @mattcerminaro Daily Chartbook
Maybe not the TACO everyone was expecting
S&P 500 futures are rallying following a Wall Street Journal report that President Donald Trump had told aides he was willing to end military hostilities in the Middle East even if the Strait of Hormuz remained largely shut. The plan to reopen the strait would stretch the conflict far beyond his projected 4-6 week timeline so instead, he’s deferring to diplomacy or shifting the burden onto allies. The United States initiated a war that shut down a critical waterway responsible for 20% of global oil shipments—and is now preparing to exit without reopening it. Five weeks. More than 3,000 dead. $200 billion requested. Over 300 Americans wounded. Oil prices have surged past $100. The risk of a global recession is climbing. Asian countries are rationing fuel. Gulf allies are enduring nightly bombardments. And the strait that sparked the entire escalation remains under Iranian control...
A broker for Pete Hegseth, the US defence secretary, attempted to make a big investment in major defence companies in the weeks leading up to the US-Israeli attack on Ira
According to three people familiar with the matter. Hegseth’s broker at Morgan Stanley contacted BlackRock in February about making a multimillion-dollar investment in the asset manager’s Defense Industrials Active ETF, the people said, shortly before the US launched military action against Tehran. The inquiry on behalf of the high-profile potential client was flagged internally at BlackRock, according to the people familiar with the matter. Note however that if this is true, he would still have lost some money (-12.7% as shown on the chart below). Source: FT, Bloomberg, RBC
Do NOT expect bond volatility (MOVE index) to go down as long as oil prices stay elevated...
Source: Bloomberg, RBC
With markets getting close to oversold, everyone's hedged and global CTAs massively net sellers, there is some dry powder if the TACO trade finally takes place
Source: Goldman Sachs, RBC
Could we see more pain?
Yes, on the surface, the S&P 500 looks nearly oversold, but underneath, the situation looks different with only 11% of SPX constituents being oversold. Source: TME, Bloomberg, GS
The sp500 technical picture remains pretty much the same: not pretty
We’re now well below the 200-day, with the 21-day crossing below it, a “light” death cross. RSI is at its most oversold levels since the Liberation Day panic, so a bounce is possible. But beware of the "catching a falling knife" strategy - very often a risky one. Source: TME, LSEG Workspace
