Inflation Runs Hotter, Putting a September Fed Hike Squarely on the Table
U.S. consumer prices rose 0.4% in August, accelerating from July and pushing investors to sharply increase bets on another Federal Reserve rate hike next week. The 10-year Treasury yield briefly reached 4.99%, its highest level in nearly three years, while the 30-year yield touched a 19-year high. Markets now put the probability of a quarter-point September hike at roughly 85%, up from 67% before the report.
Why It Matters: The inflation report reinforces the higher-for-longer rate environment that has been pressuring bonds and challenging equity valuations. With Treasury yields flirting with 5%, investors face an increasingly attractive alternative to stocks while companies contend with higher financing costs.
Oracle’s $664 Billion Backlog Eases Fears About the AI Spending Boom
Oracle reported a 30% jump in quarterly revenue to $19.3 billion as booming demand for AI computing pushed its backlog to $664 billion. The company signed more than $30 billion of additional AI cloud contracts during the quarter and said many require little additional capital because customers are providing hardware or prepayments. Oracle also burned $5.4 billion of cash, substantially less than analysts expected.
Why It Matters: Investors have increasingly questioned whether enormous AI infrastructure investments will generate adequate returns. Oracle’s results provide evidence that customers are willing to commit substantial capital to AI computing while alternative financing structures could reduce some of the balance-sheet pressure created by the buildout.
Canada Lines Up $54 Billion of Private Capital for an Infrastructure Boom
Bank of Montreal and Sun Life Financial have pledged a combined C$75 billion, or about $54 billion, toward Canadian infrastructure and strategic investments. BMO plans to mobilize as much as C$70 billion over the next decade for power generation, pipelines, transportation and AI infrastructure, while Sun Life is committing C$5 billion through direct debt and equity investments in major national projects.
Why It Matters: The commitments illustrate how infrastructure spending is expanding beyond governments and traditional utilities. Power demand, AI data centers and economic-security concerns are creating opportunities for banks, insurers and asset managers to deploy large amounts of long-duration capital into real assets.
ALTERNATIVES
Private Credit’s Secondary Market Is Heading Toward $50 Billion
HarbourVest Partners has raised $2.4 billion in initial commitments for a new strategy dedicated to buying secondary private-credit investments, highlighting the rapid growth of a once-niche market. Private-credit secondary transactions reached $20.4 billion during the first half of 2026 and are expected to approach $50 billion for the full year. HarbourVest has already deployed about $500 million across five transactions.
Why It Matters: As private credit grows, investors increasingly need ways to generate liquidity before loans mature. A larger secondary market could make the asset class more flexible for institutions while creating opportunities for buyers to acquire portfolios at discounts from investors seeking cash.
CRYPTOCURRENCY
U.S. Institutions Gain Direct Access to Singapore’s Crypto Futures Market
Singapore Exchange has opened its bitcoin and ether perpetual futures to U.S. institutional investors after receiving regulatory clearance to offer the contracts through its American derivatives platform. The move gives U.S. trading firms direct access to Asian crypto liquidity through a regulated exchange and allows positions to remain open without the expiration dates associated with conventional futures contracts.
Why It Matters: Institutional crypto infrastructure continues to expand even as bitcoin trades near $