Good afternoon and welcome to Markets Desk.
Rising bond yields are putting serious pressure on commercial and residential property markets, with buyers revisiting deals struck just months ago. Surging rates have flipped the mood in the sector from cautious optimism to what participants are calling dire, as financing costs erode the economics of transactions that once penciled out comfortably.
Shifting to corporate news, Anthropic is pledging five percent of its shares to a newly created public benefit fund. Combined with existing commitments from founders and employees, roughly twenty percent of the AI company's total equity will be earmarked for public good initiatives, a significant governance signal as the firm's valuation continues to climb toward the top of the private market landscape.
And on the geopolitical front, Vladimir Putin is reportedly floating the idea of a three-way summit with Donald Trump and Xi Jinping to determine the future of Ukraine. The proposal lands at a sensitive moment, with tensions already elevated between Kyiv and Washington, and markets will be watching closely for any signal that a negotiated framework could be moving from speculation toward something more concrete.
That's the tape. Markets Desk, signing off the floor.
