Daily Digest — 26 Apr 2026

Security incidents dominated global markets Friday as shots rang out at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, with Trump confirming one Secret Service officer was shot before the gunman was apprehended. The incident briefly rattled markets before equities recovered, though oil fell 1.5% to $94 amid concerns about supply disruptions as the UK steps up contingency planning for potential shortages from the Iran conflict.

Geopolitical tensions remained elevated after a leaked Pentagon memo suggested the US should reassess support for UK claims to the Falklands due to Britain’s lack of backing for military action against Iran. Meanwhile, violence escalated in Colombia where a bomb-laden bus exploded killing at least 14 people, blamed on dissident FARC rebels.

The crypto sector saw modest gains with Bitcoin up 0.6% to $78,043 as BlackRock’s bitcoin ETF hit a major milestone with options volume surpassing traditional crypto exchanges. Alchemy’s CEO argued crypto infrastructure is better suited for AI agents than humans, while Anthropic demonstrated this concept with AI agents conducting real commerce in a test marketplace.

Gold climbed 0.4% to $4,741 as safe-haven demand persisted, while the British pound strengthened 0.5% against the dollar despite domestic political pressures on Labour leadership.