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Analysts anticipate a higher supply of debt being raised by the Big Five hyperscaler companies this year as they race to build out their data center infrastructure, following Amazon's near-record bond sale last week of roughly $54 billion in investment-grade bonds. Hyperscalers, which operate vast data centers and other infrastructure to facilitate AI training and deployment, have been raising debt to finance data centers needed to fuel the boom in AI. "There continues to be an expectation of a lot ‌of capital to ⁠be raised ⁠in this sector," said John Servidea, co-head of investment-grade debt capital markets at JPMorgan, which led the Amazon deal. "Whether it's the companies' publicly stated capex budgets, or whether it's various banks' estimates of the amount of hyperscaler issuance, if you look at all of those, a realistic expectation would be that at some point there's more," Servidea added. Analysts at BofA Global Research on Friday raised their forecast for the hyperscalers' new debt in 2026 to $175 billion from $140 billion. In early February, Barclays analysts said that U.S. investment-grade corporate bond issuance could be ⁠greater than $2 ‌trillion in 2026, which they said "would exceed even the post‑COVID record levels seen in 2020." The five major AI hyperscalers - Amazon, Alphabet's Google, Meta, Microsoft and Oracle - issued $121 billion in U.S. corporate ⁠bonds last year, versus an average $28 billion per year between 2020 and 2024, according to a January report by BofA Securities. Microsoft and Oracle declined to comment, while the other companies did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Hyperscalers made up four of the five biggest U.S. high-grade bond deals in 2025, according to a December report by MUFG analysts. Most of those took place in the second half of the year. Oracle sold $18 billion in bonds in September. This was followed in October by Meta's $30 billion deal and November deals ‍from Alphabet ($17.5 billion) and Amazon ($15 billion). This year saw a $31.51 billion ‌global bond raise by Alphabet in February, which included a rare 100-year "century" bond as part of the deal. Most recently, Amazon raised about $37 billion across 11 tranches in the U.S. bond market on March 10. This was followed the ⁠next day by a 14.5 billion euro-denominated ($16.8 billion) bond raise by the company. The overwhelming demand - nearly four times the total amount sold - for Amazon's bond sale underlines investor appetite for debt from the major hyperscalers. Market participants believe the actual and expected debt raise by hyperscalers will keep forecasts for potential record-breaking overall U.S. corporate debt issuance on track, despite quiet days in the primary market preceding and following the escalation of conflict on February 28 between Iran and U.S.-Israeli forces. "It's fertile ground right now in capital markets, and you're also in the first half of the year," said George Catrambone, head of fixed income, Americas, at asset manager DWS.

Options traders' fears of a U.S. stock market crash have pulled back nearly to levels seen before the U.S.-Israeli attacks on Iran that made oil prices soar. The Nations TailDex Index and ‌the Cboe ⁠Skew Index, ⁠two separate gauges that measure how much traders are paying for crash protection, have retreated to near where they stood before the February 28 strikes on Iran. The S&P 500 is still down 2% from pre-war levels. "TDEX is signaling that investors are now less worried about a "tail event," or a really steep drop in equity prices, than at any point since the war started," said ⁠Scott Nations, ‌president of Nations Indexes, an independent developer of volatility and option strategy index products. "Given the muted response from the S&P 500, this outlook makes ⁠sense, but it's an important metric to watch," he said. On Monday, the TailDex index was at 18.84, just below its closing level of 19.01 on February 27. The Cboe SKEW index finished at 141.49 on Monday, down from 146.67 prior to the air strikes. Both indexes soared to multi-month highs as soaring oil prices unleashed fear of a sizeable pullback in markets. The cost of deep out-of-the-money S&P 500 puts - contracts that ‌would offer protection against a 20% drop in the market over the next three months - stands just slightly higher than it was immediately prior to the strikes, ⁠according to Susquehanna Financial Group strategist Christopher Jacobson. "After hitting multi-year highs at times last week, S&P skew levels have declined incrementally as some of that downside tail bid has faded alongside," Jacobson said. While fear of a market crash has faded, market anxiety levels are still higher than they were in early February. Nor are investors rushing to bet on a sharp rebound in stocks past old highs. "We haven't really seen that skew shift back towards the upside tail," Jacobson said.

Parliament on Tuesday approved the second batch of supplementary demands for grants, allowing the government to spend an additional Rs 2.01 lakh crore in the current fiscal, with the Rajya Sabha returning the Appropriation Bill 2026 to the Lok Sabha.Through the second batch of supplementary demands, the government had sought Parliament's approval for spending a gross of Rs 2.81 lakh crore extra in the current fiscal year. With additional receipts of Rs 80,000 crore estimated for the current fiscal year in the supplementary, the net additional cash spending will be Rs 2.01 lakh crore.The Rajya Sabha returned the bill with a voice vote after Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's reply to a discussion on the grants.The Lok Sabha passed the demand for grants on March 13.

Delta Air Lines raised its first-quarter revenue forecast in light of robust travel demand, offsetting a hit from spiking jet fuel costs due to the Middle East war.The big US carrier confirmed its profit projection for the period, even as jet fuel prices almost doubled, according to Chief Executive Officer Ed Bastian.Bastian told an investor conference the carrier had experienced "a $400 million fuel spike just in the month of March" due to a roughly 40 percent surge in crude prices from the period just ahead of the February 28 start of the US-Israeli campaign against Iran.But Bastian said consumers have still been booking trips in significant numbers, resulting in eight of the company's 10 highest sales days in history during the quarter. Five of them came in March, with the war under way."Sales for us have been very, very strong all quarter long, most particularly starting off in the March spring season, which is typically the season when travel bookings really start to accumulate," he said.Bastian reported broad-based growth in Delta's domestic market. By contrast the company has seen "a very modest decline in Europe since the war started," he said. Shares of Delta jumped 4.8 percent in early trading.But Bastian said less than 20 percent of the company's transatlantic revenues is from point-of-sale Europe.

Smartphone ​chip designer Qualcomm on Tuesday unveiled a $20 ​billion stock buyback program as it looks to take advantage of a steep drop in its share price, ‌which ⁠has been ⁠hit by a global memory supply crunch ​that is expected to slow handset manufacturing.Shares of the company ​rose more than 3% on Tuesday, after a year-to-date drop of over 24% as ​the widespread shortage of memory ⁠chips hit ‌Qualcomm's customers, mainly smartphone makers.The ​new ​buyback is in addition to ⁠its existing $2.1 billion share buyback plan, the company ​said, adding that Qualcomm is also ​increasing its quarterly cash dividend by more than 3% to 92 cents per share from 89 cents."We remain focused on stockholder returns and executing on our ongoing ‌diversification opportunities," CEO Cristiano Amon said.Qualcomm is among the largest smartphone chip providers ​in the ​world, counting ⁠major Android players and iPhone-maker Apple among its customers.But it has been increasingly diversifying its business, attempting to ​reduce its dependence on the smartphone industry by working to enter the booming data center chip and autonomous vehicle markets.

Wall Street ended higher on Tuesday, with gains in Delta Air Lines and other travel stocks, while the Federal Reserve began its two-day policy meeting amid investors' worries about high oil prices and the Middle East conflict.The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 55.47 points (0.12%) to 47,428.12, the S&P 500 gained 17.81 points (0.27%) to 6,755.80, and the Nasdaq Composite advanced 105.35 points (0.47%) to 22,569.64.Shares of airlines and travel companies rebounded from losses in recent weeks related to the U.S. and Israeli attack on Iran and surging energy prices. Delta and American Airlines Group ‌gained after both companies ⁠raised their ⁠revenue guidance for the current quarter.Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings and Expedia Group also rose.FED POLICYMAKERS WEIGH INFLATION CONCERNSConcerns of prolonged supply disruptions due to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz shipping route have kept crude prices near $100 a barrel. Worries about high oil prices will be in sharp focus as Fed policymakers weigh inflation concerns against signs of a weakening jobs market.The central bank started its two-day monetary policy meeting on Tuesday and traders expect the Fed to keep borrowing costs unchanged in its decision on Wednesday. Rate futures suggest expectations of one 25-basis-point cut toward the end of the year, according to LSEG-compiled data, ⁠down from ‌around two before the war."The place where we could get in trouble with this is if the Fed views the oil shock as inflationary and decides to respond with more hawkish monetary policy," said Ross Mayfield, ⁠an investment strategist at Baird Private Wealth Management."The best-case scenario would be some confirmation tomorrow that the Fed is monitoring the situation, but kind of adheres to what they've done in the past, which is try to look through big oil shocks."Worries about pricey AI-related stocks, along with uncertainty about the Middle East conflict, have dropped the S&P 500 about 4% from its record high close on January 27.The benchmark is trading at about 21 times expected earnings, down from over 23 in November, but still above its average forward price-earnings ratio of 19 over the past five years, according to LSEG data. The Reserve Bank of Australia hiked interest rates for ‌a second straight month, warning of a material risk to inflation due to the Middle East war. Ride-hailing app Uber rallied after announcing plans to roll out robotaxis in 28 cities starting next year, powered by Nvidia's autonomous driving software.The S&P 500 financials sector index ⁠rebounded from sharp losses in the week before, when worries about private credit quality rattled investors. Asset managers Blackstone , Apollo Global and KKR all rose.Energy companies Occidental and ConocoPhillips rose, tracking higher crude prices.Honeywell International dipped after the industrial company said the Middle East conflict could affect its first-quarter revenue. The conflict has also delayed a planned summit between the U.S. and China on President Donald Trump's request.Eli Lilly fell after brokerage HSBC downgraded the drugmaker to "reduce" from "hold."

New Delhi: Health insurance is a priority for this government and it is expected that the country will have insurance for all by 2033, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday.Replying to supplementary queries during Question Hour, she said the insurance sector is expanding and during 2024-25 it covered 58 crore lives in the country.Also Read: Health insurance priority for govt, to cover all by 2033: Sitharaman"Health insurance is a priority for this government. In fact, we are hoping that by 2033 we will have insurance cover for all," she said.In December 2025, the minister said the government came up with a Bill to hike FDI in the insurance sector with an aim to increase its penetration and deepen the market.She said insurance regulator IRDAI notified rules for the rural social sector and third-party obligations in 2024 to increase penetration in rural areas."...if you are looking at insurance in general, we have a challenge in that," she said adding the per capita premium is only USD 97 whereas the global average is USD 943."While penetration remains low, the government is actively bridging this gap through targeted reforms and affordability measures. Health insurance is now a clear priority with GST exemption on individual premiums, expansion of coverage and strong regulatory push driving the momentum," the finance minister said.Noting that health insurance is actually rapidly expanding as a market, she said, "today the sector has already scaled significantly, reaching Rs 1,17,505 crore in 2024-25 and covering 58 crore lives, with balanced contributions from public, private and standalone insurers." "Public sector insurers particularly through health premiums, give cover of worth Rs 42,420 crore, private sector does Rs 37,752 crore and standalone health insurance companies are doing Rs 37,331 crore," Sitharaman said, adding that for the poorest of the poor there is PM Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana.Most importantly, she said, PM Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana offers protection at just Rs 436 per year for Rs 2 lakh cover, ensuring even the most vulnerable are not left behind."With 26.79 crore enrolments and proven responsiveness during COVID, India is steadily building a more inclusive, accessible, and resilient health insurance ecosystem," she noted.The minister said private sector insurance companies as well as public sector companies are all very systematically and methodically regulated by the insurance regulator. "If there are any wrongdoings by insurance companies, the regulator acts upon them." In the last three years, there have been several instances where insurance companies, when found in violation of the law, have been taken to task, she said adding fines of Rs 1-2 crore were imposed on many private insurers."If there is undue influence by insurance companies using their dominant position, or when they make false and misleading claims, misrepresent facts, omit key features while selling insurance, or fail to ensure suitability of the policy, all such acts of omission and commission are acted upon."For instance, in 2023-24, a penalty of Rs 2 crore was levied on Reliance General Insurance Company for unfair business practices. Similarly, penalties have been imposed on other companies including Bajaj Finance Ltd - Rs 2 crore, HDFC Life Insurance - Rs 2 crore, SBI Life Insurance - Rs 1 crore, and Royal Sundaram General Insurance - Rs 1 crore," she informed the House.In her written reply to the question, the finance minister said, "In India, as informed by Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI), for FY 2024-25, there were 251.85 lakh individual health insurance policies, which include family members as well, covering 6.01 crore people. Further, there are 13.05 lakh group health insurance policies, covering 27.51 crore members." Also Read: From corporate perk to national imperative: Why group health insurance is India’s fastest-growing protection engineShe said Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY) provides health insurance coverage of Rs 5 lakh per family per year for secondary and tertiary care hospitalization to 12 crore families, constituting the bottom 40 per cent of India's population."In October 2024, the scheme was further expanded to cover 6 crore senior citizens of age 70 years and above belonging to 4.5 crore families irrespective of their socio-economic status. As on 28.02.2026, a total of 43.52 crore Ayushman cards have been created across the country.