UAE Gas Field Set Ablaze as Iran Strikes Hit Energy Supplies - Bloomberg The five sectors taking the hardest hit: Aviation, road freight, logistics, construction, and agriculture are in the direct firing line — diesel is the fuel that powers all of them. But this crisis has a nastier second layer. Naphtha and LPG supply plunging is forcing petrochemical plants to cut polymer production, and Gulf refining capacity has already shut down due to attacks — running elsewhere is increasingly constrained by feedstock availability. Fertiliser, aluminium, plastics, and industrial gases have all surged in price — and helium has doubled, which matters because it is a critical input for semiconductor fabrication, not just party balloons. For APAC specifically, the exposure is concentrated: About 84% of

My Investing Muse Layoffs, closures and Delinquencies FedEx Corp. plans to close nine shipping facilities in New York and one in Pennsylvania as its multi-year effort to integrate legacy express & ground delivery operations into one unified surface network enters its final phase. - FreightWave HSBC is planning to cut up to 20,000 jobs globally due to AI. (To be confirmed Spent three hours on back-to-back calls with CTOs from 30 companies across cloud infrastructure, fintech, and enterprise software. The consensus was chilling: 70% headcount reduction by the end of Q3 2026. Not layoffs. "Right-sizing for the AI-native era" - X user Tech Layoff Tracker BlackRock just spent $100 million training plumbers and electricians. The initiative is called Future Builders. The goal is to get 50,000

Economic Preview: Key Data Releases (week of 23Mar2026) The upcoming week will feature several important economic reports and indicators for the United States, providing insight into productivity, demand, inflation, employment, and consumer sentiment. Productivity Report U.S. productivity figures for the fourth quarter are scheduled for release, with forecasts estimating a 1.8% increase. This projection marks a decline from the previous quarter’s growth of 2.8%. It is important to closely monitor this trend, especially in light of recent retrenchments, which could influence overall economic performance. PMI Releases The SMP flash U.S. services PMI for March, along with the SMP flash U.S. manufacturing PMI, will be published in the upcoming weeks. These reports serve as critical references

Key findings at a glance: Doha Bombed - picture from CNA The gap is brutal. The IEA confirmed this is the largest supply disruption in the history of the global oil market — Gulf countries have cut total oil production by at least 10 mb/d, with global supply projected to plunge 8 mb/d in March alone. Against that, non-Gulf producers can realistically add only 1.5–3.0 mb/d over 6–18 months. The math doesn't close anytime soon. No one can replace Qatar's LNG. QatarEnergy CEO Saad al-Kaabi said repairs to Ras Laffan could take between three and five years, and that the scale of destruction had set the region back "10 to 20 years." That's 17–20% of global LNG supply gone — structurally, not temporarily. Asia is taking the hit first. Net oil-importing nations such as India, Bangladesh, Myanmar,

Banks have ~$300B+ in loans to private credit funds (Moody's, mid-2025 data), with JPM marking some down amid software strains. Insurers average 35% US portfolio exposure for yields (IMF/Moody's). Interconnections raise contagion risk if defaults spike (UBS downside: 15% on AI/software hits), but it's not systemic meltdown—regulators watching, many exposures managed. Gulf SWFs hit first per that article; banks/insurers next in line but buffered. Known: US banks' loans to private credit funds hit ~$300B as of June 2025 (Moody's/Fed data), plus $285B to PE & $340B unused commitments—part of $1.2T+ to non-bank lenders. PC "lends back" via synthetic risk transfers, partnerships (e.g. Citi-Apollo), & buying bank debt/securitisations. Unknown: Granular counterparty details, off-balance-s