Market pulse
At a Glance
At a Glance
The week in brief
Key Takeaways
Key Takeaways
Institutional shifts
What Changed This Week
Significant Moves
A roughly $320/oz move in under two weeks (Fortune, Aug 4; Yahoo Finance, Aug 10) underscores gold's role as the go-to tail-risk hedge amid rate-cut bets and geopolitical tension.
A sharp reversal from the best quarter since Q4 2020 to a negative July print shows tech-heavy equity hedge strategies cooling as summer risk appetite faded.
10% year-over-year FFO growth, led by data and midstream segments, supported a raised quarterly distribution and reinforces the AI-infrastructure demand thesis.
View Shifts
Blackstone said its January outlook 'remain[s] largely intact' at mid-year, with hedge fund demand from individual and institutional investors described as a growing theme.
Global PE head Caitlin Gubbels confirmed CPP Investments is weighing secondary sales alongside its roughly C$20 billion deployment target.
New Calls
RBC Global Asset Management launched the RBC BlueBay Enhanced Income Fund, a new closed-end interval fund targeting CLO and alternative credit exposure for US investors.
BCI launched a $13 billion Investment Grade Private Credit Fund, opening with $1.8 billion of co-investment commitments.
Apollo published its 2026 Midyear Credit Outlook, formally elevating private investment-grade credit as the vehicle to close the AI financing gap.
CPP Investments confirmed it is exploring LP-led secondary sales of older private equity fund interests, a new liquidity-management call from global PE head Caitlin Gubbels.
Advisor-ready language
The Client Conversation
The Client Conversation
In plain English
Stock markets have been booming, but private equity funds are stuck in a slow patch, taking longer than usual to sell investments and return cash to investors. Meanwhile, private lending keeps attracting big new money.
If a client asks…
“Should I be worried my private equity investments aren't paying out?”
It's a broader industry slowdown affecting many funds, not a sign something is wrong with yours specifically.
“Markets seem calm right now, does that mean it's safe to stop worrying?”
Calm markets can hide risks building underneath, so it's not a signal to drop protective diversification.
“Is private lending a safer bet right now than private equity?”
Private credit is attracting a lot of new institutional money, but every strategy carries its own tradeoffs worth discussing.
The bottom line
The conversation worth having is about patience versus access: clients with money tied up in private equity funds are the ones facing a longer wait for payouts, while those exploring private credit are seeing strong institutional interest. Neither is a red flag on its own, but it's a good week to review how each fits your timeline and comfort with the current calm-but-not-guaranteed market backdrop.
Monday morning, handled
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Research archive
Previous Issues
Previous Issues
View all →August 9, 2026
Private Credit Holds Firm as PE Exit Window Slowly Reopens
August 2, 2026
Secondaries Boom and Credit Spreads Tighten as PE Cycle Turns
July 26, 2026
Secondaries Momentum Builds as Private Credit Spreads Compress Further
July 19, 2026
Private Credit Spreads Grind Tighter as Secondaries Volume Hits Record Pace