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Trump wants Kevin Warsh to be 'totally independent,' Sam Altman retracted his prediction on AI job losses, Taiwan overtook India as the world's fifth-largest stock market, two of the biggest memory chip makers simultaneously hit a $1T market cap, and social media absolutely clowned Ferrari for its EV debut.

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Let's dive in.

Before The Bell

As of 5/26/2026 market close.

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Markets

  • US stocks rose yesterday as AI-fueled optimism offset anxiety over Iran talks

    • S&P and Nasdaq hit new ATHs 

  • Europe's Stoxx 600 snapped a six-day win streak

  • Japan's Nikkei 225 hit a new ATH to take YTD gains to 27%

  • EM stocks index climbed for a fourth-straight day by 0.5%

    • Korea's KOSPI surged to a new ATH to take YTD gains past 90% 

  • US investment grade bond yields hit 5.3% last week, the highest in a year

    • Corporate yield spreads are nonetheless at the lowest since the 1990s 

  • Bitcoin volatility hit a nine-month low

Earnings

  • What we're watching this week:  

    • Today: Salesforce, DICK'S, HP, Marvell Technology

    • Thursday: Dell, Best Buy, Costco, Kohl's, Gap

  • Full calendar here

Prediction Markets

  • Traders are fully pricing in a $1.25T+ valuation for Anthropic this year. The startup recently overtook OpenAI in valuation amid booming revenue growth

  • Trade event contracts on Polymarket, the world's largest prediction market

Headline Roundup

  • Trump wants Kevin Warsh to be 'totally independent' (CNBC)

  • China lowered one-year policy rate to a record low 1.45% (BBG)

  • China banned top AI talent from leaving (BBG)

  • Japan slipped to world's third-largest creditor behind China (RT)

  • Taiwan overtook India as world's fifth-largest stock market (BBG)

  • Global PE funds exit Chinese data centers (FT)

  • Eli Lilly has spent $20B on M&A this year (BBG)

  • Micron hit a $1T market cap (CNBC)

  • Korea's SK Hynix hit a $1T market cap (CNBC)

  • Chipmaker ETF rides to quickest-ever $10B valuation (FT)

  • Space stocks surge on SpaceX IPO euphoria (BBG)

  • Nvidia will spend $150B per year in Taiwan (RT)

  • Sam Altman says AI unlikely to lead to 'jobs apocalypse' (RT)

  • lululemon nears deal to settle proxy war with founder Chip Wilson (RT)

  • Dropbox co-founder Andrew Houston will step down as CEO (WSJ)

  • BP fired its chairman for bullying (WSJ)

  • Social media cooked Ferrari for its EV debut (CNBC)

  • Greg Lindberg was sentenced to 12 years for $2B Insurance fraud (WSJ)

  • PE funds seek to toss out $150M Florida theft lawsuit (LAW)

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Deal Flow

M&A / Strategic

  • Spanish lender Banco Santander won shareholder approval to acquire US-based bank Webster Financial in a $12B cash-and-stock deal

  • Eli Lilly will acquire three clinical-stage vaccine developers Curevo, LimmaTech Biologics, and Vaccine Company for $3.8B

  • Greenbriar Equity-backed space and defense engineering firm Applied Aerospace & Defense is seeking to raise $683M at a 3.6B valuation in an IPO

  • Japanese lender MUFJ is exploring a take-private or increase in public float of its $2.6B-listed Bank Danamon Indonesia

  • Penta Capital Partners-backed UK accounting rollup Sumer paused a $1.3B sale 

  • Warburg Pincus-backed date center firm Princeton Digital Group launched a $1B sale of its China assets

  • Infrastructure investor I Squared Capital bought 10 data center facilities from ​Cogent Fiber for $225M cash and will commit another $1B for expansions ​and acquisitions

  • Activist Ancora Holdings is pushing adhesives manufacturer H.B. Fuller to abandon its $805M proposed takeover of UK medical bandage maker Advanced Medical Solutions Group 

  • Northern Oil & Gas agreed to acquire a 25% interest in oil-producing properties and acres of land from Canada's Parallax Energy Operating in a $255M cash and stock deal

  • EQT-backed Voltera and GIP-backed Revel Transit will merge their EV charging businesses to serve robotaxis in urban US

  • Netherlands blocked IT infrastructure services provider Kyndryl's proposed takeover of Dutch cloud services firm Solvinity Group on security concerns

  • A group led by utility conglomerate Equatorial Energia also bid to become a strategic investor in the privatization process for water utility Copasa

VC

  • China's ByteDance is offering its AI team special low-priced stock options linked to its Seed AI unit to fend off poaching; the firm is valued at ~$600B

  • Fireworks AI, a startup helping companies run AI models, is in talks to raise a round at a $15B valuation led by Index Ventures

  • AI music startup Suno is in talks to raise a round at a $5B valuation led by Bond Capital 

  • OpenRouter, a unified gateway and API for LLMs, raised a $113M Series B at a $1.3B post-money valuation led by CapitalG

  • NVision Quantum, a quantum detection and computing company, raised a $55M Series B led by Abbott

  • P2 Science, a green chemistry company, raised a $23M up round led by Sofinnova Partners

  • European preventive health platform Lucis raised a $20M Series A led by Singular 

  • Stride, a clean energy fintech startup, raised a $15M Series B co-led by Lightrock and TRIREC

  • Belo, a digital wallet and cross-border stablecoin payment platform, raised a $14M Series A led by Tether

  • Human Archive, an egocentric multi-sensor data startup, raised an $8.2M funding round from Wing Venture Capital, NVP Capital, Y Combinator, and angels 

  • Didit, an identity infrastructure and fraud-prevention platform, raised a $7.5M seed round from Y Combinator, Pioneer Fund, and others

Access the complete VC deal flow and data on Fundable

IPOs / Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

  • SoftBank hired banks to prepare IPOs of data center power firm SB Energy at a $50B valuation and its planned $100B AI and robotics spinout Roze

  • Advent and SWF ADIA-backed German power equipment firm INNIO is seeking to raise $2B at a $20.2B in its US IPO

  • European PE firm CVC sold its entire 13.8% stake worth $4.65B ‌in Spanish energy company Naturgy at current market prices weeks after BlackRock sold its remaining 11.4% stake ​in Naturgy for $3.2B

  • Honeywell-backed quantum computing company Quantinuum is seeking to raise $1B at a $12.7B valuation in its IPO

  • $3.5B Hong Kong-listed biotech Insilico Medicine is considering a secondary listing in Abu Dhabi

  • Sunshine Silver Mining & Refining is seeking to raise $330M at a $2.3B valuation in an IPO

  • Colombia's state-owned oil company Ecopetrol ​launched a tender offer ‌to acquire control of Brazil's $1.9B-listed Brava Energia at a 15% premium 

  • Indonesian gold miner Merdeka Gold Resources plans to raise $500M in Hong Kong's first HDR listing in twelve years

  • Florida speciality insurer Safepoint is seeking to raise $283M at a $1.16B valuation in its IPO

  • Ethio Telecom raised $20M in Ethiopia's first IPO

  • Cardiovascular disease-focused biotech Kardigan filed for an IPO

SPAC / SPV

  • Switzerland-based Terra Quantum will merge with Axiom Intelligence Acquisition Corp 1 in a $3.5B deal after canceling a $3.25B deal with Mountain Lake ​Acquisition Corp II

Debt

  • Banks led by JPMorgan again boosted a leveraged loan sale to ~$15B to fully refinance Warner Bros. Discovery's $15B bridge facility ahead of its takeover 

  • Prudential's asset management arm has financed $4B of land-banking projects through a partnership with homebuilder financier Domain Real Estate Partners

  • Strategy spent $1.4B from its $2B cash pile to repurchase $1.5B of zero-coupon convertible notes 

  • Kenya plans to sell $770M of green bonds to boost agriculture output

Bankruptcy / Restructuring / Distressed

  • US accused collapsed auto parts supplier First Brands of tariff fraud and is seeking $286M in unpaid tariffs and penalties

  • Y Combinator and Valar-backed enterprise banking fintech Parker filed for bankruptcy and shut down

Funds / Secondaries

  • China-focused VC GSR Ventures is seeking to raise a new $350M fund

  • VC TMV is raising a new $200M maritime fund anchored by warehouse giant Prologis and the American Bureau of Shipping

  • Secondaries firm Seine Capital raised $180M for its debut fund

  • Equip Capital raised a CV for European e-scooter operator Ryde Technology led by Goldman Sachs Alternatives to secure a 9.1x MOIC

Crypto Sum Snapshot

  • UK sanctioned Justin Sun's crypto exchange HTX over Russia business

  • Crypto industry braces for quantum computing threat

  • Trump will not let others replace US as the 'crypto capital of the world'

Crypto Sum compiles the most important stories on everything crypto. Read it here.

Exec’s Picks

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*DISCLAIMER: Investment advice provided by Autopilot Advisers, LLC ("Autopilot"), an SEC-registered investment adviser. Past performance does not guarantee future results. Investing carries risks, including loss of principal. As always, be smart out there. Litquidity is compensated to promote AutoPilot. Compensation details available upon request.