Market Overview

Cloud infrastructure developer Nscale is negotiating a second $45 billion computing agreement with artificial intelligence lab Anthropic. The prospective transaction centers on a new facility at Nscale's Monarch data center campus in West Virginia. This second building would generate 460 megawatts of computing capacity powered by Nvidia Corporation's upcoming Vera Rubin chips. An agreement could materialize within days. The West Virginia site was initially slated to house infrastructure for Microsoft Corporation before that company withdrew from a preliminary letter of intent signed in March. Anthropic already holds existing infrastructure commitments with Nscale valued at approximately $44.6 billion. Nscale recently closed a $3.36 billion pre-IPO financing round led by Third Point and backed by Nvidia, Apollo Global Management, Citadel, Hudson Bay Capital, and the Abu Dhabi Investment Council as it targets a roughly $30 billion valuation for its upcoming public offering. Nscale has expanded its total contracted value to more than $103 billion in two-and-a-half years.

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Amazon is backing a proposed 960-megawatt nuclear energy facility at the retired Breed Generating Station site in Sullivan County, Indiana, in partnership with American Electric Power and X-energy. The project envisions twelve 80-megawatt Xe-100 small modular reactors configured in three groups of four to supply power to the regional grid and Amazon data centers. American Electric Power and X-energy announced their joint development agreement on October 19. No construction timeline or final investment decision date has been announced for the site. Amazon will provide milestone-based development funding and intends to purchase the plant output through a long-term contract. American Electric Power stated that the agreement includes financial safeguards to protect existing utility customers from project costs. The installation marks the second collaboration between Amazon and X-energy toward a goal of deploying more than 5 gigawatts of new nuclear capacity in the United States by 2039. The companies previously announced the Cascade Advanced Energy Facility in Washington, which is similarly designed for a 12-reactor, 960-megawatt capacity. X-energy's high-temperature gas-cooled reactors use helium coolant and TRISO particle fuel, with a design that supports air, water, or hybrid cooling systems. The development follows Amazon's participation in the White House Ratepayer Protection Pledge to cover the full electricity and infrastructure costs of serving its data centers. Terms and capital costs for the Indiana agreement have not been disclosed.

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Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, BlackRock, and Fidelity placed bids exceeding $25 billion for the anchor book of Jio Platforms, according to CNA reporting on Monday. Mukesh Ambani's telecoms, cloud, and artificial intelligence group allocated 81 billion rupees ($853.31 million) of shares to anchor investors in its record $3.2 billion initial public offering. Institutional investors subscribed to over 30 times the quota reserved for them ahead of the public offering opening on Wednesday. Life Insurance Corporation, BNP Paribas, JPMorgan, and HDFC Bank also received share allocations in the anchor book. Jio plans to direct up to 275 billion Indian rupees ($2.90 billion) of net proceeds toward repaying or prepaying borrowings at its Reliance Jio Infocomm subsidiary. The listing represents Reliance's first public offering since Reliance Petroleum debuted in 2006. Year-to-date Indian initial public offering proceeds rose 8.3 percent to $12.65 billion compared to the prior-year period. A successful market debut would position Jio among the four largest Indian listed companies by market capitalization.

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Merck KGaA agreed to acquire Silence Therapeutics for $1.3 billion in cash, adding an experimental short-interfering RNA therapy for a rare blood disorder to its specialty drug pipeline. Under the terms of the agreement announced on October 19, 2026, the German drugmaker will pay $20 per American Depositary Share, representing a 130% premium to Silence's closing price on October 16, 2026. The transaction carries an enterprise value of $1.1 billion and an equity value of approximately $1.3 billion. The acquisition centers on divesiran, a clinical-stage RNAi treatment for the rare blood cancer polycythemia vera that delivered positive Phase 2 results. Silence held $72 million in cash and equivalents as of June 30, a resource base that left it reliant on external scale to fund its upcoming Phase 3 development program. Securityholders holding approximately 14% of Silence's voting power have agreed to support the transaction. The deal is structured as a U.K. scheme of arrangement and is expected to close in the first quarter of 2027, pending shareholder approval, court sanction, and regulatory clearances.

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Fintech firm Mynt rose 0.5 per cent in its market debut on Tuesday after raising 60.9 billion pesos, or US$966.99 million, in the largest initial public offering on record in the Philippines, CNA reported. The GCash operator sold 8.03 billion shares at 6.60 pesos each, with an overallotment option expanding the initial 53 billion peso deal size. The stock opened at 6.63 pesos per share against a broader Philippine Stock Exchange index drop of 0.2 per cent. The offering surpassed Monde Nissin's 52.2-billion-peso float from 2021, drawing more than 20 cornerstone investors including BlackRock, Citadel, Fidelity International and the International Finance Corp who committed roughly US$500 million. Primary and secondary shares made up the mix, sending fresh proceeds to the company while cashing out existing shareholders from backers Globe Telecom, Ant Group and Ayala Corp. Mynt reported net income of 10.82 billion pesos for the six-month period ended June 30, marking a 7.3 per cent increase from a year earlier alongside a 10.4 per cent rise in revenue to 43.27 billion pesos. The platform served 41.5 million monthly active users during that three-month window, capturing nearly 56 per cent of the country's adult population as users processed 9.84 trillion pesos in payment transactions through the first half of 2026. Proceeds are earmarked for digital financial services growth, product development and general corporate purposes.

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European equities fell sharply on Monday as violent weekend protests across France added to persistent technology stock volatility, according to Fortune. France's CAC 40 sank 1.3% to 7,854.31 following nationwide demonstrations against the rising cost of living and poor school conditions that resulted in more than 2,000 arrests. Britain's FTSE 100 dropped 0.8% to 10,795.31, while Germany's DAX fell 1% to 25,360.14. Oil prices dropped around 2% after President Donald Trump signed an executive order late Friday putting sweeping sanctions on Russia on hold, with Brent crude falling 2.1% to $107.55 per barrel and U.S. benchmark crude dropping 1.9% to $97.19 per barrel. The waiver of Russian energy sanctions followed an earlier diesel deal aimed at lowering U.S. fuel prices ahead of the November 3 midterm elections. Meanwhile, global technology shares faced continued selling pressure as investor concern grew over the sustainability of the artificial intelligence boom. South Korea's Kospi index rose 1.8% to 5,768.01, though it remains down more than 17% over the past month from its June peak above the 9,000 mark. Indonesia's benchmark stock index fell over 5% at its peak to its lowest level since 2020 after plunging 11% on Friday following an MSCI warning on its emerging market status. In the United States, the 10-year Treasury yield eased to around 5.08% early Monday from 5.13% on Friday, down from a peak of 5.35% earlier this month.

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Oil prices fell on Tuesday as markets weighed an executive order from US President Donald Trump waiving some sanctions and tariffs tied to Russian energy exports, alongside ongoing Middle East supply risks, CNA reported. Brent crude futures fell 49 cents, or 0.45 per cent, to $109.06 a barrel, while the US West Texas Intermediate November contract eased 0.33 per cent to $103.32. The more-active WTI December contract dropped 46 cents, or 0.47 per cent, to $98.08. Brent previously touched $110.70 per barrel in the prior session, marking its highest level since May 20. The executive order issued on Friday night lifted key Russia-related duties and penalties for purchasing its oil and gas, though Trump stated on Saturday that a final decision is pending. Russia's crude production rose by 65,000 barrels per day in September to reach 8.43 million bpd, sitting 870,000 bpd below levels from a year ago according to the International Energy Agency. Meanwhile, Yemen's Houthis claimed attacks on Monday against Saudi energy and military infrastructure, including an Aramco site in Yanbu and the Shaybah oilfield, while a separate attack in Yemen's Shabwa province killed 58 people.

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The Bank of Korea will keep its seven-day repurchase rate at 3.00 per cent at its October 22 meeting, according to a Reuters poll of economists cited by CNA. All 34 economists surveyed expect policymakers to pause following back-to-back increases, giving the central bank time to assess prior tightening. Consumer inflation eased to 2.9 per cent in September from 3.1 per cent in August, remaining above the BOK's 2 per cent target. Strong semiconductor-led growth and elevated energy costs continue to generate underlying price pressures. Asia's fourth-largest economy grew 3.7 per cent from a year earlier in the April to June quarter. Median forecasts point to a rate hike to 3.25 per cent at the November meeting, followed by a rise to 3.50 per cent in the first quarter of 2027. Inflation is forecast to average 2.7 per cent this year before easing to 2.2 per cent in 2027.

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German Chancellor Friedrich Merz urged businesses to embrace artificial intelligence at a Berlin industry summit on Monday to revive the nation's economy, CNA reported. Speaking alongside Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, Merz called on corporate leaders to open their doors to AI and utilize their data to counter global competition targeting Germany's core auto, chemical, and engineering sectors. The economy ministry has signed a memorandum of understanding with Nvidia ahead of an expected partnership announcement at the summit, which continues on Tuesday. Huang highlighted existing collaborations, including Mercedes-Benz developing premium robotaxis using Nvidia software. Meanwhile, a private sector business group named Made for Germany reported that members plan to invest more than 850 billion euros through 2028, following investments exceeding 200 billion euros in 2025. A broader report from a group including Siemens and Deutsche Bank projected up to 4.1 trillion euros in potential investments across AI, energy, and defense by 2035.

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Roche is paying Hansoh Pharmaceutical Group $400 million up front in a licensing pact worth up to $15 billion overall. The partnership spans a broad portfolio of antibody-drug conjugates, including two preclinical candidates from Hansoh alongside multiple programs targeting molecules proposed by Roche. Hansoh will take these programs through Phase 1 trials before handing global development and commercialization responsibilities over to Roche across all markets excluding Greater China. The agreement is Roche's sixth licensing deal with a China-based drugmaker since late August. Under the terms, Hansoh will also receive $110 million on the first anniversary of the deal alongside development, regulatory, and commercialization milestones. Hansoh maintains an option to contribute toward the global development of two programs to secure incremental commercial upside.

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