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Good Morning,

S&P concentration is raising concerns, BlackRock is bullish on UK and Japan, Goldman execs expect the market rally to slow, China is leading in GenAI adoption, short sellers made $10B despite the Q2 rally, and fund managers are ripping off UK pensions.

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Let’s dive in.

Before The Bell

As of 07/09/2024 market close.

Markets

  • US stocks rose slightly as investors reacted to dovish comments from J Pow's testimony 

    • The S&P and Nasdaq posted new ATHs

  • London robusta futures hit an ATH of $4,844/ton

Earnings

  • What we're watching this week:  

    • Thursday: Delta, PepsiCo

    • Friday: JPMorgan, Wells Fargo, Citigroup

  • Full calendar here

Headline Roundup

  • J Pow testimony hints at forthcoming rate cuts (WSJ)

  • Yellen expects inflation to continue to ease over time (RT)

  • Gap between S&P and equal-weighted S&P is the widest since 2008 (RT)

  • US small business sentiment rose to a six-month high (RT)

  • Short sellers made $10B in Q2 despite S&P rally (BBG)

  • FTC investigation finds pharmacy-insurance M&A as culprit for drug inflation (RT)

  • Goldman execs expect economic growth and market rally to slow (RT)

  • BlackRock bullish on UK stocks after elections, sees Japan as favorite (RT)

  • China's central bank is preparing for a rare bond market intervention (FT)

  • UK pension plans are overpaying $2B/year in management fees (FT)

  • Global gold ETFs saw a second-straight month of inflows (RT)

  • Temasek to prioritize US deals and stay cautious on China (FT)

  • China is leading the world in GenAI adoption (RT)

  • German bankruptcies were higher than expected in H1 (RT)

  • France's election outcome is 'negative' for credit rating (RT)

  • Global regulators tightened rules on banks outsourcing services (RT)

  • SF office vacancies hit ATH as AI boom fails to stop CRE slide (CNBC)

  • Shein pledged to invest in UK / Europe ahead of potential IPO (RT)

  • Growth is stalling at Musk's X (FT)

  • Wells Fargo named Alexandra Barth as co-head of LevFin (RT)

  • Bond vet Jim Leaviss will leave M&G after three decades (FT)

  • Foreign carmakers are outproducing US brands in US for first time (BBG)

  • Apple leads in Q2 PC market recovery (RT)

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Deal Flow

M&A / Investments

  • Australian automotive parts retailer Bapcor rejected a $1.2B takeover offer from Bain Capital as too low (BBG) 

  • A consortium led by Vista Equity Partners agreed to acquire a majority stake in hybrid cloud storage provider Nasuni at a ~$1.2B valuation (BBG) 

  • PE firm Arcline is in advanced talks to acquire a unit of RTX's Collins Aerospace division for ~$500M (BBG) 

  • Goldman Sachs Asset Management will acquire a majority stake in event engineering firm TAIT from Providence Equity Partners (BBG) 

  • Fenway Sports Group, the American owner of Liverpool FC, is in talks to acquire a majority stake in French football team FC Girondins De Bordeaux (BBG) 

  • Standard Chartered’s crypto subsidiary Zodia Markets is in talks to acquire Elwood Capital Management’s OTC trading and settlement services (BBG) 

VC

  • AI robotics startup Skild AI raised a $300M Series A at a $1.5B valuation led by Lightspeed, Coatue, SoftBank, and Bezos Expeditions (BW)

  • Captions, a GenAI video creation and editing platform, raised a $60M Series C at a $500M valuation led by Index Ventures (BW)

  • Volley, a startup creating voice-controlled games, raised a $55M Series C led by M12 Ventures and Lightspeed (FN)

  • Athletic Brewing, America’s largest non-alcoholic brewery, raised $50M at an $800M valuation led by General Atlantic (WSJ)

  • B2B payments and remittance startup Nala raised a $40M Series A led by Acrew Capital (TC)

  • Canoe Intelligence, a fintech for alternative investors, raised a $36M Series C led by Goldman Sachs Alternatives (BW)

  • Command Zero, an autonomous and user-led cyber investigation platform, raised a $21M seed round led by a16z (PRN)

  • AI video tech startup Phyron raised a $10M Series B led by Round2 Capital (FN)

  • Scaler, an ML-based decarbonizing platform for real estate, raised a $10M Series A led by Plural (EU)

  • The Lasso, an online car bidding platform, raised $9.8M in funding led by Crosslink Capital and Manresa Ventures (FN)

  • AI-driven behavioral modeling and big data solutions startup Synerise raised an $8.5M Series B+ led by VTEX (FN)

  • Biostate AI, a scalable biodata foundry startup, raised $4M in funding led by Matter Venture Partners (FN)

  • NodaFi, a facility operations platform, raised a $3.5M seed round led by Base10 Partners (FN)

  • Accend, a startup helping fintechs / banks accelerate business clients' onboarding, raised a $3.2M seed round led by Adverb Ventures (FN) 

IPO / Direct Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

  • KKR plans to sell ~20% of its 43% stake in Japanese chip maker maker Kokusai Electric for ~$1.6B (RT) 

  • Indian contract drug R&D firm Anthem Biosciences is considering raising ~$400M at a $3B-$4B valuation in a local IPO (BBG) 

  • Healthcare provider Ardent Health is seeking to raise $315M at a ~$3.2B valuation in a US IPO (RT) 

Debt

  • China's Ping An Insurance is considering a $2B-$5B convertible bond sale this year (BBG) 

  • Sauid Aramco is seeking to raise over $3B in its first dollar bond sale since 2021 (BBG) 

  • China Cinda Asset Management's Hong Kong unit plans to raise ~$1B in a bond sale (BBG) 

  • Spanish highway operator Abertis is considering a $424M bond issuance for capital projects in Puerto Rico (BBG) 

Fundraising

  • Bill Ackman's Pershing Square kicked off fundraising for a potential $20B US-listed closed-end fund (RT)

  • Hahn & Co., a Korean PE firm founded by an ex-Morgan Stanley banker, raised $3.4B for one of Asia's biggest funds YTD (BBG)

  • MM PE firm Monomoy Capital Partners closed its fifth fund at ~$2.3B (BW) 

  • LMM PE firm Avesi Partners closed its second fund at ~$1.4B (WSJ) 

  • AE Industrial Partners closed its third flagship PE fund at ~$1.3B (BW) 

  • MM PE firm Truelink Capital Management closed its inaugural fund at $875M (BW) 

  • Shein is launching a $215M VC fund aimed at tackling fashion waste (FT)

Crypto Corner

  • Trump's official Republican platform pledged to halt crypto 'crackdown' (CD)

  • Bitcoin-tech correlations fell amid supply 'overhang' (BBG)

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