📋 THE BIG BOARD
The full data behind Fintech Friday. Every number we tracked this week, organized the same way as the blast: what capital costs, where it moved, what it is powering, and what crypto did. Levels as of September 18, 2026, Friday afternoon. Closes will differ slightly.
💵 COST OF CAPITAL
Four central banks moved in eight days. The Fed hiked for the first time since 2023, the 10-year touched 5% and backed off, and the bond market calmed down instead of panicking. Here is the full picture.
🇺🇸 At home
Metric | Level | What it means |
|---|---|---|
Fed funds | 3.75 to 4.00% | First hike since 2023, vote 12 to 0 |
Dot plot | 4.1% end-2026 | One more hike implied, no cuts until 2028 |
Next FOMC | Oct 28 | Markets price about 60% odds of another hike |
2-yr Treasury | ~4.67% | Up 4 bp on the week, front end absorbing the hike |
10-yr Treasury | ~4.99% | Touched 5.01% Wednesday, first 5% since 2007 |
30-yr Treasury | ~5.34% | Down 4 bp, curve flattening |
20-yr auction (Sep 15) | 5.42% high yield | Record-low 52.5% foreign take, 2 bp tail |
CPI (YoY) | 3.4% | Headline unchanged, energy up 2.1% m/m |
Core CPI (YoY) | 2.4% | Down from 2.5%, easing toward target |
Unemployment | 4.1% | Payrolls +162k in August |
GDP (Q2) | +1.5% | Growth cooling, not stalling |
30-yr mortgage | 6.95% | Up 19 bp on the week, Freddie Mac |
Federal deficit | $1.97T FYTD | Eleven months, on pace for ~$2T |
Money market funds | $7.92T | Down $52B on the week, cash left into the hike |
MOVE (bond vol) | ~76 | Down 7% on the week, through a hike |
VIX | ~15.5 | Peaked 17.7 Wednesday, calm by Friday |
S&P 500 | ~7,620 | Down ~0.5% on the week |
Nasdaq 100 | ~29,470 | Up ~0.3% on the week |
Russell 2000 | ~2,850 | Down ~1.8%, worst major index |
Dollar (DXY) | ~100.3 | Up ~1%, six-week high |
Gold | ~$4,400 | Up on the week through a hike |
🌍 Abroad
Metric | Level | What it means |
|---|---|---|
ECB | 2.50% | Hiked 25 bp Sept 10 on energy inflation |
Bank of Japan | 1.25% | Hiked Sept 18, 7 to 2 vote, highest since 1995 |
Bank of England | 3.75% hold | 6 to 3, three wanted a hike; gilt sales paused to April 2027 |
Bank of Korea | 3.00% | Two straight hikes, next meeting October |
Brazil Selic | 13.75% | Cut the same day the Fed hiked |
Germany 10Y Bund | ~3.53% | Touched 3.57%, highest since 2009 |
UK 10Y Gilt | ~5.26% | Fell 8 bp after the BOE hold |
Japan 10Y JGB | ~2.99% | Fell into the hike, fully priced |
KOSPI | ~6,894 | Flat week, +2.7% Friday on foreign buying |
Nikkei | ~65,360 | Up ~2% on the week through the BOJ hike |
Stoxx 600 | ~639 | Up ~0.5%, best session in two months Thursday |
EUR/USD | ~1.146 | Down 1.2% on the week |
USD/JPY | ~157.9 | Yen weaker after the hike, not stronger |
USD/KRW | ~1,383 | Won weakest of the week |
Global bonds | Yields at highs | Bund 17-year high, gilt near 19-year high |
EM | Pressured | Strong dollar, Asia FX the weak spot |
💸 MONEY MOVES
Every non-crypto capital move we tracked this week, biggest first, geography by the acquirer, with a line on each. Deal names link to a source where we have one.
🇺🇸 Domestic · Tech
Blackstone + Alphabet chip loan $22B, ten banks syndicating debt for an AI cloud venture.
Crusoe $3.9B Series F at $30.9B, energy-first AI data centers.
Analog Devices → Alif Semiconductor $1.35B, AI-native microcontrollers.
Motive $1.3B growth financing, pulled its IPO.
Positron AI $875M at $5B, inference chips.
Harvey $550M Series H, legal AI.
Temporal $550M Series E, workflow infrastructure.
OpenAI → Glass Imaging ~$300M, camera software.
Cornelis Networks $205M, AI networking.
Clay $115M Series D at $7.1B, go-to-market data.
🇺🇸 Domestic · Industrials, Auto & Materials
The Boring Company $3B Series D at $23B, led by the UAE.
Alcoa notes $2.6B debt to fund the South32 assets.
H.I.G. → MISTRAS Group ~$866M take-private, industrial testing.
Suniva $835M, second US solar cell plant.
Constellation → RISEC $715M, 609 MW gas plant from Shell.
Mach Industries $600M at $3.7B, defense manufacturing.
Plains → Silver Creek assets $585M, Powder River Basin midstream.
Impulse Space $308M Series D extension, in-space mobility.
Covenant $250M out of stealth, a16z, low-cost cruise missiles.
🇺🇸 Domestic · Health & Consumer
Sysco stock offering $1.0B to fund the Jetro acquisition.
Electra Therapeutics IPO $350M upsized, Nasdaq: ETRA.
Encoded Therapeutics $275M Series F, gene therapy.
Addus → AccentCare personal care $275M, home care.*
Penelope Health $100M, payer coverage software.*
🇺🇸 Domestic · Real Estate & Finance
Baldwin Group take-private $7.7B, Sequence Holdings and the Dell family office.
Bain Capital Ventures Fund XI $1.6B fund close.
Morgan Stanley Growth Equity $1.3B inaugural fund, oversubscribed.
Bamboo Insurance IPO $665M launched, prices week of Sept 21.
Realty Income + KKR €528M, European net-lease JV.
Orion180 IPO $240M, priced below range.
American Savings Bank of Hawaii IPO $129M upsized.
Savvy Wealth $100M Series C at $600M.
🌍 International · Tech
Cohere + Aleph Alpha Merger at ~$20B (Canada/Germany), Schwarz Group in for €500M.
Anew Labs $290M at $1.5B (China), ByteDance AI drug spin-out.
EnduroSat $205M (Bulgaria), satellites.
Buildots $130M at ~$1B (Israel), AI for data-center construction.
CADDi ~$114M Series D at $1.2B (Japan), manufacturing data.
Enhans ~$37M Series C (Korea), enterprise AI agents.
🌍 International · Industrials, Auto & Materials
Brookfield → Reliance Worldwide ~$2.9B (Australia), plumbing products.
Cerberus → Goodwin engineering £1.1B (UK), defense castings carve-out.
Grupa Kęty → Metra €645M (Poland/Italy), aluminum extrusion.
🌍 International · Health, Consumer & Finance
Puig → ISDIN €1.2B (Spain), remaining 50% of the skincare brand.
Archimed Fund IV €1.5B (France), healthcare PE.*
Tandem Health €86.5M Series B (Sweden), AI clinical documentation.
Wayflyer $50M debt facility (Ireland).
L Catterton → Nandhana Foods $30M minority stake (India).*
* single-source item.
⚡ ENERGY & COMMODITIES
Oil fell 5% this week while the cost of moving it went vertical. Full price sheet, the shipping numbers behind the main story, the week's grab for AI power, and who controls the barrels.
🌐 Prices
Commodity | Level | Week |
|---|---|---|
Brent | ~$99/bbl | ▼ ~5% after +9% last week |
WTI | ~$96/bbl | ▼ ~4% |
Dated Brent (physical) | ~$131/bbl | ~$30 premium over futures, physical still tight |
US diesel (AAA) | $6.40/gal | ▲ 7%, all-time nominal record |
US gasoline (AAA) | $4.44/gal | ▲ +16¢/wk |
US natgas (Henry Hub) | $2.86/MMBtu | ~flat |
EU natgas (TTF) | ~€79/MWh | ~flat, first week without a gain in six |
Gold | ~$4,400/oz | ▲ ~1% |
Silver | ~$67/oz | ▲ ~4% |
Copper (COMEX) | $6.69/lb | ▲ ~3%, Yangshan premium at a 4-yr high |
Uranium (U3O8) | ~$90/lb | flat* |
Lithium carbonate | ~CNY 134k/t | ▼ YTD low* |
US SPR | 285M bbl | Lowest since 1982 |
🚢 Shipping
Route | Rate | Week |
|---|---|---|
VLCC Gulf → China (TD3C) | $1.035M/day (Sep 14) | ▲ from $862k on Sep 11, first time above $1M |
VLCC global average (Clarksons) | $451k/day | ▲ 68% |
VLCC West Africa → China | $354k/day | ▲ 51% |
Suezmax global average | $343k/day | ▲ 94% |
Aframax cross-Med | $115k/day | ▲ ~100 WS points |
DHT 3-year charter | $100k/day | vs $47.5k in January |
BWET (tanker ETF) | ~$848 | ▲ 17% w/w, ~4,300% YTD |
⚡ Power for AI
Deal | What | Size |
|---|---|---|
Blackstone + Alphabet | Bank loan to buy AI chips | $22B |
Crusoe | Energy-first AI data centers, 6 GW contracted | $3.9B |
Oracle | Texas wind PPAs for the Abilene AI campus | 1.7 GW |
Constellation → RISEC | 609 MW gas plant from Shell | $715M |
Meta → Apex | Texas solar, portfolio to 1.2 GW | 144 MW |
NextEra + DOE | Duane Arnold nuclear restart loan (Sep 8) | $1.9B |
PJM study | Data-center load makes grid risk 100x planning criterion | Sep 16 |
🛢️ Supply & policy
Item | Latest | What it means |
|---|---|---|
Saudi East-West pipeline | Hit Sep 10-11, half back "within days" | 7 mb/d bypass for Hormuz |
Hormuz transits | ~11 to 12 a day vs ~130 pre-war | Gulf exports down 7 to 8 mb/d |
IEA (Sep 11) | Gulf exports ~13 mb/d vs 18 | Global inventories down 95M bbl in August |
US SPR | 285M bbl | Lowest since 1982 |
🌍 The East · Russia
Move | Detail | What it means |
|---|---|---|
Export revenue | €604M/day, down 8% m/m | Sanctions and strikes biting |
Urals crude | ~$70 in August, ~$82 early Sept | Far above the $44 cap |
Shadow fleet | 52% of seaborne crude | Cap enforcement leaking |
Power of Siberia 2 | Deadlocked on price | China wants $50 to $130, Russia wants $250 |
🌍 The East · China
Move | Detail | What it means |
|---|---|---|
Crude imports | 8.9 mb/d, up 6% m/m | Refiners buying the dip, still down 23% y/y |
LNG imports | Down 18% y/y | $21 gas is killing demand |
Product exports | Up 29% m/m | Beijing eased export curbs |
Rare earths | No new action this week | Watch the Sept 24 summit |
* single-source figure.
₿ CRYPTO CORNER
Prices, flows and the week's regulation, in one place. Prices from CoinGecko, Friday afternoon Sept 18. Flows from Farside.
🪙 Majors
Coin | Price | 24h | Week | Market cap |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Bitcoin | ~$80,900 | ▲ 5.5% | ▲ ~2% | ~$1.63T |
Ethereum | ~$2,600 | ▲ 4.8% | ▲ ~2% | ~$318B |
Solana | ~$112 | ▲ 10% | ▲ ~6% | ~$65B |
XRP | ~$1.38 | ▲ 7.2% | ▲ ~1% | ~$87B |
BNB | ~$759 | ▲ 4.6% | ▲ ~3% | ~$102B |
🐸 Memes
Coin | Market cap | 24h | Week |
|---|---|---|---|
Dogecoin | ~$13.7B | ▲ 4% | ~flat |
Shiba Inu | ~$3.2B | ▲ 7% | ▲ ~5% |
MemeCore | ~$3.0B | ▲ 14% | ▲ ~9% |
Pump.fun | ~$2.0B | ▲ 9% | ▲ ~12% |
Pepe | ~$1.6B | ▲ 7% | ▲ ~12% |
Official Trump | ~$558M | ▲ 4% | ▲ ~3% |
Pudgy Penguins | ~$476M | ▲ 4% | ~flat |
📊 Market
Metric | Level | What it means |
|---|---|---|
Total crypto market cap | ~$2.7T | Back to where it sat in May |
BTC September low | $74,887 (Sep 15) | After the CLARITY vote |
Spot BTC ETF flows | -$450M Mon, -$296M Tue, +$160M Wed | Worst day since June, then buyers back |
Spot ETH ETF flows | -$284M Mon to Thu | Four days of outflows |
Stablecoin supply | $304B | Flat all year in the $300B to $310B range |
Deribit Q3 expiry (Sep 25) | $14.7B BTC notional | Max pain $72,000 |
⚖️ Regulation
Date | Action | What it means |
|---|---|---|
Sep 15 | Senate cloture on CLARITY Act fails 49 to 50 | No market-structure law in 2026 |
Sep 16 | House committee advances bitcoin reserve bill | Party-line vote, long odds in the Senate |
Sep 17 | SEC innovation exemption for tokenized stocks | Approved venues can trade tokenized shares onchain for five years |
Sep 17 | CFTC files crypto market rule with the White House | Agency writes the rulebook Congress did not |
Crypto raises and M&A run in the Wednesday edition.