📈The Scoop On Oil: Predictably, global oil markets have been rocked due to the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran. The Strait of Hormuz, which 20% of the world’s crude travels through, has been closed, cutting off ~15 million barrels of oil per day, and triggering the “largest supply disruption in modern history”. In response, the IEA has released a record 400 million barrels of emergency reserves. Analyst say the release is more a bandaid than fix as long as the Strait is blocked. Crude prices have been incredibly volatile, swinging from USD$71 per barrel to peaks near USD$120, and now settling at USD$100.

📈Laughing All The Way To The Bank: Private Credit, a hot asset class where funds lend directly to companies, is facing its first big wobble after a rush of redemption requests have forced firms, including BlackRock to limit withdrawals. Investor anxiety has been driven by a few high-profile bankruptcies/fraud, including Tricolor and First brands, as well as worries over the funds’ general exposure to software companies.

📈CATL Demolishes Analyst’s Expectations: CATL Ltd. had a bumper year in 2025, the world’s largest EV battery manufacturer recorded a massive 43% increase in net income — beating estimates by $10 billion. In order to bypass tariffs CATL execs decided to license their tech to local manufacturers in the US and Europe, a move that has paid billions.

📈A Publicly Traded Hedge Fund?: In an exciting development for retail traders, Bill Ackman’s hedge fund, Perishing Square will list on the NYSE. As he aims to raise between $5 - $10 billion, investors can buy into his funds (ETFs) or buy common stock as he’ll list in a dual structure. Why would you buy in you might ask? Perishing Square has seen 30% annual growth for the past 5 years.

🌎Hands Off The Fed Chair: On Jan. 11, the DOJ wanted to subpeona Fed Chair J. Powell in an inquiry purpoted to be about the management of the central bank’s renovation. Today, a federal judge blocked the subpeona, saying the DOJ presented “essentially zero evidence” of wrongdoing and suggested the probe was likely an attempt to pressure Poweel to cut rates or to step down.

🌎Hong Kong’s Biggest Finance Crackdown in Years: Hong Kong authorities have launched an investigation into two brokerages and a hedge fund, while also arresting 8 people in a regulatory crackdown. Regulators did not officially name the firms, but Guotai Junan International confirmed it had been raided, while Reuters reported the other two as CLSA and Infini Capital. Authorities allege the case involves the hedge funds’s owner paying bribes in exchange for insider information about upcoming share placements before they were publicly announced.

🌎Iran’s Shy New Leader: Iran’s new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, issued his first statement since succeeding his father. He vowed to keep the Strait of Hormuz closed and continue retaliating against the U.S. and Israel. Problem is, the message was read by a TV presenter and Khamenei himself has yet to appear in public since taking power. Speculations have circled about his condition (he was allegedly injured in the raid that killed his father) and whether it is even him that is running the country.

🌎An Oil Crisis = WLB in Asia: With large fuel shortages forecast in the coming weeks, many South Asian nations have implemented measures to reduce energy consumption. These have included 4-day work weeks and closing schools (India and Pakistan) and reducing a/c usage (the Philippines). Vietnam airlines predicts operational costs could rise by 50-60% per month and airlines worldwide could hemorrhage profits.

👔A New Form Of Brain Rot: An HBR study of ~1500 workers found that 1 in 7 had experienced “AI brain fry”, a phenomenon where, instead of reducing effort, the constant switching between multiple AI tools and supervising their output leaves workers mentally drained, slower to make decisions, and more prone to errors. The twist is that when AI was used to genuinely offload repetitive tasks, stress levels actually fell. So takeaway is: AI isn’t bad, but we should rethink how best to interact with these tools.

👔Latest AI Victim: Atlassian is cutting 1,600 jobs globally, incl. ~480 roles in Australia. Reason being, the company is planning to restructure in order to invest more heavily in “AI and enterprise sales, while strengthening their “financial profile”. This move follows Atlassian’s stock losing half its value this year due to concerns about AI tools and its potential disruption to subscription-based software models.

👔Amazon’s Vibe Coding Nightmare: On the 10th of March, Amazon’s e-commerce senior VP called an “all-hands meeting” with their software devs, trying to solve the frequent outages. Some (if not most) of the outages can be traced back to AI written code and show that devs are still here to stay.

👔BYD Considering A Very Expensive Hobby: China’s BYD, now the world’s largest EV maker, is reportedly exploring a potential entry into Formula One (F1) as it looks to boost its global brand recognition. According to Bloomberg, the company is evaluating options incl. F1 and the 24 Hours of Le Mans, though it is unclear for now whether BYD would launch a new team or acquire an existing one.

🤪Your Opinion No Longer Needed: AI startup Aaru has hit a USD$1 billion valuation just two years after being founded by a group of teenagers. Aaru replaces traditional feedback gathering through focus groups and surveys of AI agents that simulate human responses, helping companies test products, pricing, ads, and strategy faster and more cheaply.

🤪Iranian Soccer drama: At the same time as 6 Iranian female soccer players refused to leave Australia and were granted asylum by the Home Affairs Minister. Iran’s new leader said that it was not possible for Iran to participate in the World Cup after the US killed their previous Supreme Leader and dragged them into a war. While Trump and the organisers (FIFA) said it’s okay, Iran doesn’t want to play ball.

😔A Prank Turns Tragic: A Georgia teenager has been charged with first-degree vehicular homicide after a high school prank ended with the death of teacher Jason Hughes. Authorities said Hughes slipped onto the road while students were toilet-papering his house, and was struck by a pickup truck. Hughes’ family has asked prosecutors to drop the charges, saying Hughes devoted his life to supporting students and would not want their futures ruined.

🤪Investment Bankers Get A Break: But only if your literal life is in danger, and you were working in the middle-east. In Dubai, staff in Citi and JP Morgan were told to leave the office on Wednesday this week. Staff have since been told to work from home, even needing to ask permission to work from the office.