By Robert Teitelman
Despite tariffs and wars, the $13.8 billion super-yacht business is cruising. Last year, 360 preowned superyachts of at least 30 meters -- nearly 100 feet -- sold for $6.4 billion, up 36% from 2024, notes Fraser Yachts in its 2026 Global Superyacht Report. Another 211 new superyachts were sold, up from 199 a year ago, with 19 over 260 feet, compared with 13 in 2024. In all, the superyacht world includes over 6,200 vessels, up from 4,550 a decade ago.
Still, sales trail 2021's pandemic peak, when 497 preowned and 319 new vessels were sold. Postpandemic sales dipped, then rebounded. They could rise more, says Fraser CEO Anders Kurtén, if more big boats -- 200 to 230 feet -- were on the market.
Last year, Breakthrough, a 390-foot yacht powered by hydrogen fuel cells, sold for $793 million -- tops among new yachts, says Fraser. The largest vessel sold last year, at 446 feet, was Flying Fox, which Luxury Launches reported was bought by a member of the Abu Dhabi royal family. Among new boats, the trend is toward "larger, highly bespoke builds," says Fraser, with average length rising to 159 feet.
One trend: sustainability. Power sources like fuel cells are now more feasible. Kurtén points to diesel-powered yachts less than 20 years old that can slash emissions by converting to hydrotreated vegetable oils. Then there's wind. Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos' 410-foot sailing yacht Koru -- estimated cost: $500 million -- remains an outlier. Only 14% of superyachts for sale feature sails.
--Abby Schultz
Last Week
Markets
Investors began the week trying to interpret President Donald Trump's latest Iran deadline, which involved bombing power plants and bridges. Stocks were volatile, but finished up. Then came Tuesday: In the morning Trump threatened to destroy Iranian "civilization"; in the evening he declared a two-week cease-fire. Oil fell the most in six years and stocks surged, even as disagreements over terms mounted in the run-up to talks starting on Friday. March inflation hit a hot 3.3%. On the week, the Dow industrials rose 3%, the S&P 500 3.6%, and the Nasdaq Composite 4.7%.
Companies
In his annual letter, JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon warned of weakening lending standards. Moody's downgraded a Blue Owl Capital fund. Medicare in 2027. Anthropic previewed a cybersecurity model with select companies, including Microsoft, Apple, and Amazon.com ; Treasury held a meeting with bank heads to discuss it. Casey's General Stores replaced Hologic (bought out by Blackstone and TPG) in the S&P 500. Artemis II neared Earth after a record-breaking trip around the moon.
Deals
Bill Ackman's Pershing Square Capital made a bid for Universal Music, valuing it at some $60 billion. The complex plan would merge Universal with a blank-check company, Pershing Square Sparc Holdings, which would list in the U.S...Gilead Sciences agreed to buy German biotech Tubulis for up to $5 billion in cash.
Next Week
Monday 4/13
First-quarter earnings season kicks off with results from the big banks. Goldman Sachs Group releases quarterly results on Monday, followed by Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, and Wells Fargo on Tuesday. Bank of America and Morgan Stanley announce earnings on Wednesday, and Charles Schwab and U.S. Bancorp follow suit on Thursday. Outside of the financial sector, Johnson & Johnson reports results on Tuesday, while Abbott Laboratories, Netflix, and PepsiCo do the same on Thursday.
Tuesday 4/14
The Bureau of Labor Statistics releases the producer price index for March. Consensus estimate is for a 4.6% year-over-year increase, 1.2 percentage points more than in February. The core PPI, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, is expected to rise 4.1%, compared with 3.9% previously.
Wednesday 4/15
The Federal Reserve releases the beige book for the third of eight times this year. The report gathers anecdotal information on current economic conditions from the Fed's 12 regional banks.
Wednesday is the deadline to file tax returns and pay any taxes due for 2025.
The Numbers
$172 B
The value of private-equity acquisitions in the first quarter, down 36% from the previous quarter.
61.9%
Percentage of Americans working or seeking work, the lowest since 1977, not including the pandemic.
$65 B
How much OpenAI and Anthropic will spend this year to train and operate their models, more than their revenue.
53.1
U.S. births per 1,000 in 2025, a record low, as birthrates shifted to women in their late 30s.
Write to Robert Teitelman at bob.teitelman@dowjones.com
This content was created by Barron's, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. Barron's is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
April 10, 2026 20:00 ET (00:00 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2026 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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