Good Morning,

Musk plans to address the Twitter staff this week, FedEx is boosting its dividend, Apple struck a streaming deal with the MLS, the White House confirmed that Biden will visit Saudi Arabia in July, and the Fed has a hotly anticipated FOMC meeting today.

Not sure if this is a recession indicator, but you're about to be able to buy a "Jack & Coke" in a can.

Let's dive in.

Before The Bell

As of 6/14/2022 market close.

If you want to learn more about crypto trading strategies and the world of DeFi, check out our Foot Guns newsletter.

Markets

  • Stocks calmed down on Tuesday as we began the first full day of a new bear market

    • The S&P 500 and Dow closed down 0.4% and 0.5% respectively, while the Nasdaq rose 0.2%

    • 10 year government bonds rose even further from Monday’s record-high levels

  • Cryptocurrencies continued to fall with Bitcoin hovering around $22k as investors sold off their most speculative holdings

  • Today at 2pm EST, the Fed will announce their decision on interest rates, with most forecasts projecting a 75 bps increase

Earnings

  • Core & Main ended the day up 3.92% after blowing past their expected EPS thanks to a 52% rise in Q1 sales (MW)

  • What we're watching this week:

    • Thurs: Kroger, Adobe

  • Full calendar here

Headline Roundup

  • Elon Musk will address Twitter staff this week for the first time since his takeover deal was announced (BBG)

  • US financial industry groups including the ASA, SPAC Association and CFA Institute are pushing back on a draft SEC rule aimed at reigning in SPACs, citing threats to the industry (RT)

  • Coca-Cola and Jack Daniels are collaborating over a Jack and Coke canned cocktail (YHOO)

  • FedEx is boosting its dividend and adding board members after pressure from the activist investor D.E. Shaw Group (WSJ)

  • Apple and Major League Soccer strike a 10-year streaming deal for all of the league’s games (WSJ)

  • The White House confirmed that Biden will visit Saudi Arabia in mid-July; he is expected to meet the crown prince (AXIOS)

  • A Russian court extended American basketball star Brittney Griner's detention for a second time on Tuesday, leaving her in custody until July 2 (AXIOS)

  • Caterpillar is moving its global headquarters from Illinois to Texas, another major manufacturer to leave the state in recent weeks (WSJ)

  • Redfin is laying off of 8% of its staff amid downturn in the housing market (AXIOS)

A Message From Masterworks

IT’S GETTING HOT IN HERE!!!!

The economy’s on fire. Who would’ve thought printing $13 trillion would push inflation to a 41-year high? Other than, you know, mostly everyone.

I didn’t buy J Pow’s “inflation is transitory” narrative for a second. Regardless of whose fault it is, we have a difficult road ahead of us. It will probably go down like this:

  • BIG interest rates hikes to stop inflation

  • U.S. economy falls into a recession

  • Steep losses from stocks and crypto…

Losing money never feels great. When it comes to investing, it’s inevitable. But remember that not all asset classes take a nosedive when the economy starts to crack. Take the art market, for example.

Literally, on the same day as Lehman Brothers collapsed in 2008, the art market began to boom, according to the Financial Times. Experts even called the high-end art market “bulletproof.”

Plus, when inflation is above 3%, Contemporary art prices appreciated by 23.2% annually on average. Simply put, this could be the safe-haven asset we all need.

So how can you add this hedge to your portfolio if you don’t know anything about art or have millions to spend on paintings?

Well Masterworks, the award-winning investing platform, has destroyed these roadblocks. They let you invest in shares of real masterpieces and their team picks out the winners for you. Best of all, there are no trading fees, no rug pulls, and all their offerings are SEC qualified. I would know. I’ve personally invested in a bunch of their paintings.

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See important Regulation A Disclosures

Deal Flow

M&A / Investments

  • Shale mogul Harold Hamm offered to take Continental Resources private in a $25.4B all-cash deal (RT)

  • French giant TotalEnergies will buy a 25% stake in Indian conglomerate Adani New Industries to collaborate on $5B in investments into green hydrogen products in India (BBG)

  • Genstar Capital agreed to purchase a stake in AmeriLife Group, a life & health-insurance provider, at a $3B valuation (BBG)

  • Medical equipment provider ResMed agree to acquire German health software company MediFox Dan for $1B (AXIOS)

  • China's Zhejiang Geely acquired a majority stake in Alibaba-backed smartphone maker Meizu Technology (BBG)

  • Danish transport & logistics company DSV expressed interest in buying US rival C.H. Robinson Worldwide's business (RT)

  • Hollywood talent agency UTA agreed to acquire London-based talent agency Curtis Brown (RT)

  • iEnergizer, a digital content and business process outsourcing company, is launching a formal sale process upon PE takeover interest (BBG)

  • Vehicle charging firm Blink Charging agreed to acquire electric vehicle infrastructure company SemaConnect for $200M (BBG)

VC

  • Digital coaching platform CoachHub raised a $200M Series C led by Sofina and Softbank Vision Fund 2 (TC)

  • California-based electric vertical takeoff and landing startup Overair secured $145M in funding from Hanwha Group (YHOO)

  • AI-powered call center training platform Invoca closed an $83M funding round led by Silver Lake Waterman (TC)

  • Proximie, a health platform digitally connecting OR rooms, raised an $80M Series C led by Advent Life Sciences (PRN)

  • Configure, Price and Quote ("CPQ") software vendor DealHub closed a $60M funding round led by Alpha Wave Global (TC)

  • Indonesian payment platform Flip raised a $55M Series B led by Tencent (TC)

  • Wildcard Alliance, a web3 gaming developer, raised a $46M Series A led by Paradigm (PRN)

  • AI-enabled pathology solutions firm Proscia raised a $37M Series C with new participation from Highline Capital Management, Triangle Peak Partners, and Alpha Intelligence Capital (PRN)

  • Online medical care marketplace Sesame raised a $27M Series B led by GV (TC)

  • Predictive procurement platform Arkestro raised a $26M Series A led by NEA, Construct, Koch Disruptive Technologies and Four More Capital (TC)

  • No-code development platform Next Matter raised a $16M Series A led by OMERS Ventures (TC)

  • ARHUD provider RayThink raised a $15M Series A+ led by Chengwei Capital and Unicom Innovation Venture Capital (PRN)

  • Pakistani B2B e-commerce marketplace Dastgyr raised a $15M Series A from Veon Ventures (PRN)

  • Feature-as-a-service platform Onymos raised a $12M Series A led by Great Point Ventures (TC)

  • Regulation automation company Clausematch raised a $10.8M strategic funding round led by Lytical Ventures (PRN)

  • Web3 service provider ScienceMagic.Studios raised a $10m pre-seed round from Liberty City Ventures, Digital Currency Group and Coinbase Ventures (PRN)

IPO / Direct Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

  • Social media app Triller mutually agreed to terminate its SeaChange merger and will pursue a public offering instead. It did not specify a direct listing or an IPO (BI)

  • Battery manufacturer Ningbo Shanshan is seeking a second listing in Switzerland that could raise ~$1B (BBG)

  • Coca-Cola will delay its planned IPO of Coca-Cola Beverages Africa to 2023 amid current market turmoil (BBG)

SPAC

  • Israeli travel booking platform Holisto will merge with Moringa Acquisition Corp. in a $405M deal (GN)

Fundraising

  • DCode Capital, a company that helps startups earn federal contracts, is raising a $50M fund to finance similar startups at the Series B stage or later (TC)

Crypto Corner

  • Coinbase is reducing its workforce by 18% (TC)

  • EU Finance Commissioner called for lawmakers to speed up the passage of crypto-asset regulatory framework legislation (CD)

  • SEC Chairman Gary Gensler expressed concern that legislation for the cryptocurrency industry could compromise regulations over broader capital markets (WSJ)

  • Crypto lending platform Nexo expressed interest in buying certain assets from its troubled rival Celsius (CD)

Big Swinging Decks Podcast

Listen to on Spotify.

🚨Big Swinging Decks is Back🚨This week, Lit and Mark answer ALL of the shareholder’s “Cash or Pass” requests in this special episode. Let's just say a lot of y'all are pent up and need to be bonk'd hard.

The duo gives their thoughts on everything from LBO’ing Central Park, to a strip club in the lobby of an investment bank, to Scrotox™.

Tune in to the most bizarre episode to date on Spotify and Apple, and don't forget about our new YouTube channel. 🤝

The BSD pod is proudly presented by CoinFLEX.US, home of the first interest-bearing stablecoin. Check 'em out here.

The Hiring Block 💼

  • If you're looking to break into finance, lateral, or move out, check out our job board on Pallet, where we curate highly relevant roles for you. We've got 40+ jobs spanning IB, S&T, VC, tech, private equity, DeFi, crypto, CorpDev and more. We sift through all the noise on LinkedIn, Indeed, Monster, etc. so you don't have to.

  • 💼 Today's highlighted job 💼

    • Liquidibee, a capital provider for businesses of all sizes, ranging from startups to established companies, is hiring an underwriting analyst. Responsibilities for this role include the analysis of financial documents such as credit reports and bank statements, detailed financial analysis to determine credit worthiness, and communication with ISOs, sales managers, and merchants. Think you're the perfect candidate? Apply here through our job board!

Meme Cleanser

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Catch the latest episode of our Big Swinging Decks podcast, presented by CoinFLEX.US, on Spotify, Apple, and YouTube 🤝