Published: August 9, 2026 | Category: Private Capital / Deals

Private capital just had one of its best quarters on record, and the Federal Reserve is looking at meeting less often. Ares Management raised $36.4 billion in the second quarter, its largest quarterly haul ever, pushing total assets under management to $671 billion, up 17 percent from a year earlier.

Fee-related earnings at Ares climbed 20 percent year on year to $491.1 million. Realized income jumped more than 30 percent to $522 million. Revenue for the quarter came in at $1.43 billion, above the $1.33 billion Wall Street expected. The firm now holds $170 billion of dry powder, a record, and management told analysts on the July 31 earnings call that 2026 is on track to be another record fundraising year, with successor funds for its two largest fund families launching within the next twelve months.

Fed chair Kevin Warsh wants fewer meetings. Warsh has floated cutting the Federal Open Market Committee’s calendar from eight scheduled meetings a year to six, with two additional sessions reserved for discussion rather than rate decisions, the New York Times reported July 31. The FOMC has met eight times a year since the early 1980s. Warsh’s proposal is part of a broader push to streamline Fed communications, including shorter policy statements, and a decision could land before the committee’s mid-September meeting even if any calendar change takes effect later.

Korea’s market keeps swinging. The KOSPI fell 5.12 percent this week, a session after posting its biggest one-day gain on record, near 17 percent, as heavily weighted chipmakers gave back some of their gains. SK Hynix has traded as much as 50 percent below its June peak during the recent volatility. Despite the swings, the index is still up 41.5 percent in dollar terms this year, the best return of any major market.

Three signals, one thread: capital keeps flowing to private markets even as public equities built on the same AI trade whipsaw week to week.

Sources

  • Ares Management Corporation, “Ares Management Corporation Reports Second Quarter 2026 Results,” July 31, 2026, company earnings release and earnings call
  • New York Times reporting on Kevin Warsh and FOMC meeting frequency, July 31, 2026, as relayed by Bloomberg and Fortune
  • Trading Economics and Bloomberg data on the KOSPI index, August 2026.