A growing number of investors want out of this whole private credit thing and are demanding their money back by making redemption requests.

Why it matters: Private credit firms typically don't have to meet this demand — most funds limit redemptions — but it's hard to ignore.

• Now faced with growing investor concerns over the risks and lack of transparency in private credit, Wall Street is starting to recalibrate.

The big picture: The sector has ballooned into a $1.8 trillion market.

• The risks and opaqueness didn't seem to bother anyone until it became clear that a lot of these firms have lent to the software companies now struggling in the "SaaS-pocalypse."

How it works: Private credit funds take money from investors, usually large institutions, high-net-worth individuals and, increasingly, more regular folks.

• The funds lend it out, sometimes to companies that might otherwise have difficulty getting financing through more traditional channels.
• If those companies flounder, that's not the best news, but insiders say it's fine since the market can normally ride out the bumps.

Reality check: Data on how many borrowers default is hard to come by, and the numbers that exist seem fairly small (three defaults in the software sector over 12 months, according to Fitch).

Zoom in: "The industry certainly is not business as usual at the moment, because if you've got more people wanting to redeem than you're set up to redeem, that's an issue," Jake Mincemoyer, global co‑head of debt finance at law firm A&O Shearman, tells Axios.

Friction point: The key thing is that private credit funds are not so liquid. Redemptions are commonly limited to 5% of net asset values per quarter.

• So the sector is far less susceptible to a bank run-type situation where everyone pulls out their money, and suddenly there's a systemic crisis.
• That's a highly unlikely scenario. Still, it doesn't mean everything's chill.

Zoom out: Perhaps the compromise move is more transparency.

• Apollo Global Management, which manages close to $940 billion in assets, plans to begin reporting the net asset values of its credit funds on a monthly basis, and is aiming for daily reporting, Bloomberg wrote yesterday.
• "The move could pressure rivals into providing similar updates, bringing clarity to a market beset with fears over the assets underpinning funds available to retail investors."

Follow the money: Private credit firms have won business from banks, which scaled back on lending after the financial crisis.

• But banks have been lending money to private credit funds.
• And now, there are signs that banks are recalibrating, too.
• The nation's largest bank, JPMorgan Chase, is limiting its lending to private credit, and marking down the value of some of the loans in its portfolio, the Financial Times reported.

The bottom line: There's a touch of a vibes crisis around private credit now.

America's oil stash could use some topping up.

Why it matters: The world needs oil right now, as Iran has effectively shut down the critical Strait of Hormuz, through which about 20% of the global supply travels.

Driving the news: The Trump administration said Wednesday the U.S. would release 172 million barrels of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, or about 40% of what's in there now.

By the numbers: The reserve, stored in huge underground salt caverns along the Gulf Coast, holds 415 million barrels right now, about 58% of capacity.

Where it stands: The U.S. has the largest oil stockpile among the 32 countries that plan to release 400 million barrels of oil to deal with the spike in prices.

• The coordinated release would amount to roughly 1.2 million barrels a day, about what the system can manage, per JPMorgan Commodities Research.
• Although potentially calming for jittery markets, it would be insufficient to counter the potential loss of about 12 million barrels a day from a prolonged Hormuz shutdown, the JPMorgan analysts note.

Reality check: America has plenty of oil. It is the world's largest producer, after all. But storing enough oil for emergency use offers reassurance to markets that could restrain price spikes.

Catch up quick: The Trump administration has made replenishing the reserve a priority, but it has been slow going.

• The One Big Beautiful Bill Act contained some funding to make it happen, but nowhere near the billions of dollars required.
• Even if the effort were fully funded, it would take a lot of time.
• "Adding barrels is also more logistically challenging than releasing them," according to S&P Global Energy.

State of play: A fully funded effort — Energy Secretary Chris Wright put the number at $20 billion — made at the fastest possible speed of 4 million barrels a month would get the reserve filled back up by 2031, per S&P Global Energy.

• There's a limit on how much can be drawn: The reserve must keep about 150 million barrels in place to maintain operational flexibility, JPMorgan notes.

The bottom line: The release of oil reserves won't mathematically solve the problem of lost supply, but it will psychologically keep investors from bidding crude oil prices higher, Mark Malek, chief investment officer at Siebert, wrote in a note Wednesday.

• "The signaling effect can stabilize prices temporarily, even if the physical math doesn't work."
• "Think of it as the energy equivalent of Mario Draghi's famous 'whatever it takes' moment during the European debt crisis," Malek wrote. "The credible threat of coordinated action is doing more heavy lifting than the actual barrels ever could."

Gold prices are down slightly since the Iran war began.

Why it matters: That's low-key weird since gold's supposed to be the safe haven investment of choice, part of the "debasement" trade.

What they're saying: "Right or wrong, markets just don't think war with Iran is all that scary," Brookings Institution's Robin Brooks wrote on his Substack.

• "Markets tend to get desensitized about the war," particularly if the White House succeeds in keeping a lid on oil prices, Jefferies chief European economist Mohit Kumar said in a note yesterday morning.

Reality check: As the war drags on, that's starting to look like a big "if."