The infoshot to help kick-start your week
Markets bounce into week six of the war
Last Monday, President Trump sent US markets down after he threatened to “obliterate” Iran’s power stations and water plants if they didn’t “shortly” agree to peace terms. Optimism that Trump was trying to wind down the war gave markets a lift on Tuesday and Wednesday, with the S&P 500 ultimately soaring 6% and ending a five-week losing streak. Trump’s prime time address on Wednesday evening failed to reassure investors and markets took a hit when they opened on Thursday. However, by the close of play, US indexes recovered and finished just below Wednesday’s peak as we went into the Easter weekend.
Six weeks into the war, as last week demonstrates, the conflict and Trump’s rhetoric continue to mould global markets. With the Iranians only allowing a limited number of ships through the Strait of Hormuz, oil and gas have hit a four-year high and fertiliser prices are up 30% in the US. Global shipping operations have started relying more on alternative routes, including Cape diversions and Red Sea corridors. Maritime operations are having to face up to the fact that, even if the conflict ends in the near future, Hormuz’s commercial shipping activities will not go back to normal anytime soon.
On Easter Sunday, Trump took to Truth Social to repeat his threats to destroy Iranian infrastructure. He set a new deadline for 8pm today to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and has since said he “is not at all” worried about his potential actions being considered war crimes. S&P futures held up despite Trump’s violent language, and Asian and European markets are up slightly this morning. The chances of a solution being reached by 8pm look low. This is the fifth deadline Trump has given the Iranians since the war started. According to the US Human Rights Activist News Agency (HRANA), 3,540 people have been killed in Iran so far, including 1,616 civilians.
Blue Owl caps withdrawals as private credit worries grow
On Friday, private credit investment firm, Blue Owl Capital, imposed a 5% quarterly cap on investor withdrawals as they try to deal with a surge in redemption requests. Filings released on Thursday showed between January and March, investors asked to withdraw 21.9% from their Credit Income Corp fund and 40.7% from their tech lending fund, Blue Owl Technology Income Corp.
The surge comes after growing concerns over weak lending standards in the private credit industry and worries about its AI spending boom exposure. Other private credit firms like Ares Management, Apollo Global, Blackstone and the private credit arms of banks like Morgan Stanley, J.P. Morgan and Goldman Sachs have also placed caps on redemptions in recent months.
OpenAI closes record-breaking funding round
OpenAI closed its latest funding round on Tuesday, raising a record-breaking $122bn of committed capital, leaving the company valued at $852bn. Despite ChatGPT having more than 900 million weekly users the company is a long way off being profitable. OpenAI made $13.1bn in revenue last year. They said on Tuesday that they’re currently generating $2bn in revenue a month in 2026. Veteran investor and hedge fund founder, George Noble, recently estimated that OpenAI needs to generate an annual revenue of $200bn by 2030 to meet their spending projections. OpenAI has started cutting spending plans and closing unprofitable features like the AI video app Sora as they gear up for their likely IPO later this year.
Trump appointed the CEOs of various tech giants to the President’s Council of Advisers on Science and Technology. Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, Nvidia’s Jensen Huang and Oracle’s Larry Ellison, were all included in the initial batch of 13 members. The council will help lead the US’s strategic plans in the ongoing AI race with China.
Ellison’s Oracle laid off 30,000 employees across the globe on Wednesday. Despite revenues increasing 22% in the last quarter, Oracle decided to cut 18% of their workforce to help fund more AI infrastructure projects. The firm raised $50bn in debt and equity in January, and analysts estimate the layoffs could free up a further $10bn in free cash.
Coming Up:
- Fed meeting minutes, Wednesday 8 April 2026
- US GDP (Q4), Thursday 9 April 2026
- UK CPI (March), Friday 10 April 2026
Notice:
For regulated financial advisers and investment professionals only, Copia does not provide financial advice, and the contents of this document should not be taken as such.
The performance of each asset class is represented by certain Exchange Traded Funds available to UK investors and expressed in GBP terms selected by Copia Capital Management to represent that asset class, as reported at previous Thursday 4:30pm UK close. Reference to a particular asset class does not represent a recommendation to seek exposure to that asset class. This information is included for comparison purposes for the period stated but is not an indicator of potential maximum loss for other periods or in the future.
