Planet Finance is flip-flopping between the fallout of the war on markets and the crisis slowly spreading through the private credit sector. Signs of trouble in Private Credit Land have been piling up for a while now, and the latest worrying statistic? Wealthy investors have sought to pull more than USD 10 bn from some of the largest semi-liquid credit funds in 1Q 2026, the Financial Times reports.

This has prompted private credit managers to cap withdrawals: Funds run by Blackstone, BlackRock, Morgan Stanley, and others agreed to meet only about 70% of the USD 10.1 bn in redemption requests so far, according to the salmon-colored paper’s calculations. Further withdrawal tallies are expected from the likes of Apollo Global, Ares Management, and Goldman Sachs in the coming weeks.

By the numbers: Retail private-credit assets swelled to USD 222 bn by the end of 2025 — up from just USD 34 bn at end-2021 — after nearly USD 200 bn in inflows over that period. Now, Goldman Sachs expects the category to shrink by USD 45-70 bn over the next two years.

Why does it matter? Retail money is a big source of fee income. Blackstone’s USD 48 bn BCred fund was its largest fee source last year, generating USD 1.2 bn, while Blue Owl Capital booked USD 447 mn from a comparable vehicle. The funds seeing these requests are also the ones that grew the fastest in recent years.

IN CONTEXT- As we’ve previously noted, private-market executives have been warning of turbulence following the sector’s weakest start to a year in more than a decade — marked by slowing inflows, rising withdrawals, and growing concern that refinancing pressure and AI-linked debt could expose weaker credits.

Public markets are already marking that down: Listed private-capital groups including Blackstone, Blue Owl, Ares, KKR, and Apollo are down 25% or more this year, wiping more than USD 100 bn off combined market value. As Vulcan Value’s CT Fitzpatrick put it, “the air has come out of the balloon.”

It’s also behavioral: Retail investor behavior of “[chasing] performance, then [leaving] the moment they sense danger,” as Morningstar’s Jack Shannon said, is doing little to inspire confidence in the asset class. The trend is also similar to the start of the 2008 financial crisis, former Pimco co-chief exec Mohamed El Erian said.

MARKETS THIS MORNING-

Stocks in Asia are up in early trading this morning with the anticipation surrounding “ a historicweek in the world of monetary policymaking ” driving sentiment. The central banks of the US, Europe, England, and Japan are all set to meet this week and investors are bracing for signs that monetary tightening is on the horizon as the regional war drags on.

ADX

9,462

-0.2% (YTD: -5.3%)

DFM

5,289

-2.5% (YTD: -12.5%)

Nasdaq Dubai UAE20

4,345

-1.1% (YTD: -11.1%)

USD : AED CBUAE

Buy 3.67

Sell 3.67

EIBOR

3.6% o/n

3.7% 1 yr

TASI

10,946

+0.6% (YTD: +4.3%)

EGX30

45,188

-1.6% (YTD: +8.0%)

S&P 500

6,699

+1.0% (YTD: -2.1%)

FTSE 100

10,318

+0.6% (YTD: +3.9%)

Euro Stoxx 50

5,739

+0.4% (YTD: -0.9%)

Brent crude

USD 100.21

-2.8%

Natural gas (Nymex)

USD 3.03

+0.3%

Gold

USD 5,007

+0.1%

BTC

USD 74,735

+2.8% (YTD: -14.7%)

Chimera JP Morgan UAE Bond UCITS ETF

AED 3.60

-1.9% (YTD: -4.0%)

S&P MENA Bond & Sukuk

150.55

-0.4% (YTD: -0.9%)

VIX (Volatility Index)

23.80

-12.4% (YTD: +52.3%)

THE CLOSING BELL-

The DFM fell 2.5% yesterday on turnover of AED 1.1 bn. The index is down 12.5% YTD.

In the green: Emirates REIT (CEIC) (+3.0%), Taaleem Holdings (+2.0%), and Dubai Financial Market (+1.5%).

In the red: Dubai Refreshment Company (-5.0%), Mashreqbank (-5.0%), and Commercial Bank of Dubai (-4.9%).

Over on the ADX, the index rose 0.1% on turnover of AED 1.2 bn. Meanwhile, Nasdaq Dubai was down 1.1%.

Tags: