World Markets on October 27: Anthropic's IPO Filing, Brazil's Crash and Meta's $95 Billion Share Sale

This digest covers October 24 to October 27, 2026. The thread running through it is the price of money for big bets: AI companies are seeking hundreds of billions of dollars from capital markets, while emerging-market investors sharply repriced Brazil's fiscal risk, all on the eve of a week of decisions by the Fed, the ECB and the Bank of Japan.

Anthropic Files for an IPO, and AI Stocks Rebound

On October 26, AI model developer Anthropic made public its filing for an initial public offering (IPO), a Form S-1 with the US Securities and Exchange Commission; the company plans to trade under the ticker ANT. According to the filing, as reported by TechCrunch, revenue for the first half of 2026 was $16.3 billion, up from $1.2 billion a year earlier, the operating loss narrowed from $2.1 billion to $693 million, and the net loss reached $80.7 billion, largely because of non-cash accounting adjustments tied to convertible debt. The seven co-founders, through a joint Founder LLC, will control 50.1% of shareholder voting power. The company has not yet disclosed the size of the offering or the share price.

The market read the filing as a sign that the AI boom is not running out of steam, after the pressure created last week by Meta's results. On October 26, the S&P 500 rose 0.70% to 7,677, the Nasdaq gained 0.82% to 26,169, and the Dow added 0.28% to 52,362. US chip stocks rose 2.8%, their biggest one-day gain in a month, according to Reuters. On October 27 the rally carried into Asia: in early trading the Nikkei was up 1.9% and South Korea's KOSPI more than 4%.

Why it matters: public reporting gives the market its first detailed look at the economics of a frontier-model developer, with very fast revenue growth alongside huge accounting losses and spending. For index-fund investors, it is a reminder that sentiment about AI now moves not just individual stocks but the indices as a whole.

Sources: TechCrunch: Anthropic's filing, Anthropic Form S-1, Motley Fool via Yahoo Finance: the October 26 session, Reuters via Investing.com: Asia on October 27.

Brazil Suffers Its Biggest Market Drop Since 1998 After Lula's Re-Election

On Sunday, October 25, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva unexpectedly won the presidential runoff with 51.8% of valid votes; his opponent Flávio Bolsonaro refused to concede and pledged to seek an annulment. On October 26, trading on the B3 exchange was halted for 30 minutes after the index fell 10%; during the day the Ibovespa was down more than 15%, its largest drop since 1998, Reuters reported, and it closed down 13.88% at 176,608. The real fell 8.3% to 5.4274 per dollar, and the price of five-year credit default swaps (CDS), insurance against a sovereign default, rose from 120.21 to 151.67 basis points. The Treasury cancelled its bond auctions of October 27 and 29. Banks fell hardest: Bradesco lost 21.7% and Itaú 13.7%.

The mechanism: investors had priced in a win for the right-wing candidate, from whom they expected tighter fiscal discipline. The surprise result forced them to reprice the risk of rising public debt, and when bonds, the currency and stocks fall at the same time, foreign investors leave quickly. The market is now waiting for the choice of finance minister and a fiscal plan.

For investors in emerging-market and Latin America funds, this is an example of political risk: a single event can take away more in a day than a year of dividends.

Sources: Reuters via The Globe and Mail: the crash and CDS, The Rio Times: the close.

Meta Plans to Sell $95 Billion of Stock to Fund AI

Last week we wrote that Meta's free cash flow had turned negative. On October 26, the company showed how it will close the gap: it launched a $35 billion underwritten share offering, a sale of new shares through banks, and plans up to $60 billion more through an "at the market" programme, a gradual sale of shares on the exchange at market prices. Nvidia, AMD and Broadcom will act as cornerstone investors. Meta warned that over several years it will need to raise "hundreds of billions of dollars" for its AI push. Meta shares fell about 2% on October 26.

The mechanism: new shares dilute existing shareholders, because each share now claims a smaller slice of profit. When a company funds investment from capital markets rather than from profits, investors judge not only the payoff of AI but also the cost of the money behind it. Chip suppliers buying shares in their own customer deepen the interdependence within the sector.

Sources: FT via The Irish Times, Motley Fool via Yahoo Finance: the October 26 session.

Oil Eases on Talks in Tehran but Holds Near $115

On October 26, Saudi Defence Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman held talks in Tehran with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian; Iranian official Mohsen Rezaei, Pakistan's army chief Asim Munir and Turkish intelligence chief Ibrahim Kalin also took part. According to Iranian state media, quoted by Reuters, the four countries agreed to continue talks on peace and security. Brent, hovering near six-month highs, fell 91 cents on October 26 to $115.81 a barrel, and WTI lost $1.51 to $101.76. The fall was limited by Houthi claims of strikes on pumping stations of Saudi Arabia's East-West crude pipeline and on Riyadh airport, which Saudi Arabia did not immediately confirm. In early trading on October 27, Brent slipped another 0.7% to $114.95.

The mechanism: a diplomatic channel between Riyadh and Tehran is the first sign of possible de-escalation after the attacks on Saudi infrastructure we covered in our previous digest. Each such signal shrinks the risk premium in the oil price, and inflation expectations with it.

For Ukraine, oil near $115 means expensive fuel and higher export revenue for Russia.

Sources: Trading Economics via TradingView: the Tehran talks, Reuters via Investing.com: settlement prices, Reuters via Investing.com: Brent on October 27.

China's Industrial Profits Rise 14.4% in September

On October 27, China's National Bureau of Statistics reported that profits at large industrial companies rose 14.4% year on year in September, the fastest pace since June, after 4.2% in August. For the first nine months of 2026, growth was 15.5%, against 15.7% for January–August. The main driver was the sector tied to artificial intelligence, while consumer-oriented industries continued to lag.

Why it matters: China is the world's largest consumer of industrial raw materials, so its factories' profits affect demand for metals and energy. At the same time, the gap between the boom in AI manufacturing and weak domestic consumption means growth rests on exports and technology rather than a broad economic recovery.

Sources: Investing.com: NBS data for September, Trading Economics: data for August.

What to Watch Next

• October 28: Fed rate decision; economists expect a hold, while traders price a hike in December.
• This week, more than a third of S&P 500 companies report, including Alphabet, Microsoft and Amazon.
• October 29: ECB decision.
• October 30: Bank of Japan decision; it is expected to say its 2% inflation target is nearly reached.

Sources: Fed calendar, ECB calendar, Reuters via Investing.com: the central-bank week.

Practical Takeaway

• Sentiment about AI can swing within days, from fear of Meta's spending to a rally on Anthropic's filing. Short-term swings are not a signal to act; it matters more to know how much of your portfolio sits in tech companies.
• Brazil's crash shows that emerging-market political risk can materialise in a single day, so keep your share of such markets within limits you are prepared to see in the red.
• A week of Fed, ECB and Bank of Japan decisions alongside results from the biggest tech companies may bring sharp moves; diversification and a long horizon are the best protection against them.