New York, Feb 9, 2026, 15:16 (EST) — Regular session
- Blackstone shares clawed back losses from the morning’s ex-dividend drop, up around 1.2% by the afternoon.
- Blackstone’s involvement in a $10 billion debt deal for Australia’s Firmus, an AI infrastructure developer, had investors taking notice.
- Investors have their eyes on U.S. jobs and inflation numbers this week, and rate bets continue to steer risk appetite.
Shares of Blackstone Inc (NYSE:BX) reversed early losses and climbed 1.2% to $131.20 by Monday afternoon. The stock moved within a range from $127.28 up to $131.77.
U.S. stocks pushed higher, shrugging off last week’s tech-driven dip, which investors saw more as a pause than anything more serious. “You’ve a sharply oversold market where a little bit of good news can go a long way,” said Keith Lerner, chief investment officer at Truist Advisory Services. With eyes on U.S. payrolls data set for Wednesday and January CPI coming up Friday, traders are already positioning themselves. 1
At Blackstone, the focus right now is straightforward: will capital continue pouring into large private credit transactions when public markets turn volatile? Such loans, put together by funds operating beyond the public bond arena, have been central to growth for major alternative asset managers.
Australia’s Firmus has locked in a $10 billion debt funding deal, with Blackstone and Coatue Management taking the lead overnight. The AI infrastructure developer says this cash will bankroll the next leg of “Project Southgate,” focused on AI training and inference infrastructure—meaning the systems that power AI after the learning phase. Firmus, working alongside CDC Data Centres and Nvidia, expects the project to hit as much as 1.6 gigawatts within three years. 2
Firmus, in its own release, said funds under Blackstone Tactical Opportunities and Blackstone Credit & Insurance led the deal, describing it as among the largest private debt financings ever seen in Australia. “With Blackstone and Coatue’s financing, we’re helping meet the rising global demand for AI compute,” co-CEO Oliver Curtis said. The company is moving to ramp up “energy-efficient” AI factories, planning deployment of thousands of GPUs. 3
Blackstone went ex-dividend on Monday—a move that often clouds daily price comparisons, since fresh buyers miss out on the next payout. The firm’s latest quarterly dividend stands at $1.49 per share, with payment set for Feb. 17 to investors who held shares as of Feb. 9, according to Fidelity data. 4
Other names in the group saw gains as well—these stocks tend to move with risk sentiment and deal flow. KKR advanced roughly 4.0%, Apollo finished up 0.7%, while Carlyle tacked on 1.2%.
But the setup isn’t a one-way street. If this week’s inflation and jobs data stoke fresh anxiety about rates holding higher for longer, fundraising could fizzle, exits may slow, and fee-driven earnings across alternative asset managers would likely feel the pinch — plus, the private-credit channel backing major infrastructure builds could constrict.
Investors are zeroing in on Blackstone’s next move: Vice Chairman and CFO Michael Chae is on the agenda to speak at the Bank of America Securities 2026 Financial Services Conference, set for Tuesday at 9:40 a.m. ET. 5
