Stocks Fall on War and Credit Worries as Oil Rises: Markets Wrap
(Bloomberg) — A renewed oil advance stoked fears the war in Iran will exacerbate a global energy crunch, spurring a drop in stocks, which also came under pressure amid anxiety surrounding the private-credit industry.
Without any signs the conflict in the Middle East is abating, the S&P 500 resumed its decline for the month, set to be the worst in a year. Shares of alternative asset managers declined as Apollo Global Management Inc. and Ares Management Corp. became the latest firms to curb withdrawals from some of their private-credit funds. Brent climbed above $103 a barrel.
Gold pared losses, following nine consecutive daily declines. Treasury yields and the dollar rose.
Fighting between the US-Israeli alliance and Iran raged unabated, even as President Donald Trump claimed talks are under way to end the conflict. Iran has started charging transit fees on some commercial vessels passing through the Strait of Hormuz, another sign of Tehran’s control over the world’s most important maritime energy channel.
“It all comes down to the re-opening the Strait of Hormuz,” said Matt Maley at Miller Tabak. “So, if we hear that ‘good progress is being made’ in the negotiations at the end of this week, it won’t be enough, if the Strait remains very restricted.”
Maley also notes that the issues facing the private-credit market are not receding, so brushing these problems aside is not a good idea.
“Thus, the risk/reward equation in the marketplace right now is still decidedly weighted towards risk,” he added.
Asset managers have been hit with a wave of redemption requests amid growing anxiety around the $1.8 trillion private-credit market’s lending practices and exposure to businesses that are vulnerable to artificial-intelligence disruption.
The rapid pace of these requests has led to further questions about whether direct-lending — an illiquid form of leveraged finance — is a suitable asset class for investors looking for pockets of liquidity.
Corporate Highlights:
A JPMorgan Chase & Co.-led bank group made further changes to the nearly $15 billion junk-debt sale for the record leveraged buyout of Electronic Arts Inc., showing the day-to-day challenge in selling risky debt amid a market-moving Middle East war. Estée Lauder Cos. said it’s in talks to buy Puig Brands SA in a deal that would create a cosmetics giant with about $20 billion in annual sales. Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc. has no immediate plan to take over Jefferies Financial Group Inc., according to people with direct knowledge of the matter, after a media report of a potential deal. SK Hynix Inc. plans to spend 11.9 trillion won ($7.9 billion) on cutting-edge extreme ultraviolet lithography chipmaking tools from ASML Holding NV, deepening a push into next-generation memory as demand for artificial intelligence infrastructure grows. Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. is launching a new chip for agentic AI and inference computing, adding to a portfolio of semiconductors designed to drive its artificial intelligence ambitions. Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
The S&P 500 fell 0.6% as of 9:31 a.m. New York time The Nasdaq 100 fell 0.5% The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.7% The Stoxx Europe 600 fell 0.6% The MSCI World Index fell 0.5% Currencies
The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index rose 0.4% The euro fell 0.3% to $1.1573 The British pound fell 0.4% to $1.3373 The Japanese yen fell 0.3% to 158.91 per dollar Cryptocurrencies
Bitcoin fell 0.3% to $70,676.6 Ether fell 0.4% to $2,152.9 Bonds
The yield on 10-year Treasuries advanced six basis points to 4.40% Germany’s 10-year yield advanced three basis points to 3.04% Britain’s 10-year yield advanced four basis points to 4.96% Commodities
West Texas Intermediate crude rose 5.1% to $92.62 a barrel Spot gold fell 0.9% to $4,365.58 an ounce ©2026 Bloomberg L.P.
