The private debt market might start a contagion. Blue Owl Capital (OWL) ended its plans to let shareholders exit one of its private funds.
Blue Owl previously planned to merge two of its debt funds. That would have merged a smaller private fund worth $1.7 billion with a bigger, public one with $17.1 billion in funds.
Blue Owl is in the AI infrastructure development business. It wanted the merger to cut administration costs. Unfortunately, completing the deal would require a 20% unrealized loss for private fund investors.
Investors should be wary of OWL stock. Similarly, Apollo Global (APO) and Blackstone (BX) are out of favor.
In the memory chip space, watch out for Micron (MU). Shares closed down by 10.87% to close at $201.37, where it has support at the 50-day simple moving average. The chip sector had a bad day. AMD, Intel (INTC), Nvidia (NVDA), Applied Materials (AMAT), Lam Research (LRCX), and Arista (ANET) all dropped.
Bath & Body Works (BBWI) lost 24.81% on Thursday. The firm blamed macro consumer headwinds for the weak outlook. It cut its net sales growth of 1.5% to 2.7% down to the low single-digit percentage.
The central bank does not need to cut rates to help consumers. It needs the government to lower or take down tariffs. Specialty retail firms like Tracktor Supply (TSCO) and Ulta Beauty (ULTA) are in a downtrend like BBWI stock.
