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Blackstone's president says the AI boom won't turn into a bubble, BofA named two new board members, Palmer Luckey launched his craziest startup yet, Barclays will cut 5,000 jobs in an AI push, and Zuck is open to paying California's billionaire tax as long as his Meta voting power isn't diluted.

One of the smartest sourcing setups I've seen comes from a consumer-focused growth equity fund. They've automated their sourcing with Fundable, sending companies that match their investment themes directly into their internal sourcing dashboard. Try it for free.

Let's dive in.

Before The Bell

As of 10/22/2026 market close.

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Markets

  • US stocks tumbled yesterday as Meta rekindled AI spending fears

    • Nasdaq had it worst day since June 

    • Nasdaq biotech index is down 4% since its August peak but still up 25% YTD

  • China's CSI 300 index entered a bear market 

  • US 10Y yield fell under 5% for the first time in a month as French turmoil fueled a flight for safety

  • Global corporate credit spreads hit a 17-month high

Earnings

  • Blackstone posted a 9% drop in Q3 profit as higher rates curbed dealmaking, with net realizations in PE down 50% (WSJ)

  • American Airlines posted another Q3 loss and forecast wider losses ahead amid spiking fuel prices; the firm will slow capacity growth next year as record revenue failed to protect margins (CNBC)

  • Bloom Energy beat Q3 earnings and revenue estimates but its stock nonetheless fell 9% as the AI trade took a hit (BRN) 

  • Lockheed Martin issued a Q3 beat-and-raise as its backlog hit a record; US also pledged to buy 850 F-35s over the next 10 years (WSJ)

  • Full calendar here

Prediction Markets

  • Tech stocks got clapped for the 92847th time after Meta reported $825B in future spending commitments. Zuck better know what he's doing with Muse holy sh*t

  • Sign up to trade on the Polymarket US app with code LIT and they'll send you a $25 bonus

Headline Roundup

  • PE firms are replacing PortCo CEOs as exits take longer (WSJ)

  • Hedge funds pile into shorts as Goldman flags short squeeze risk (BBG)

  • Data center short sellers are sitting on $6B of paper profits (RT)

  • Investors see midterms as risk to AI trade (RT)

  • Retail traders got clapped in the chip stocks selloff (BBG)

  • 'Paralyzed' US IPO market asks if there's life after Anthropic (BBG)

  • Blackstone's president says AI boom will not turn into bubble (BBG)

  • Blackstone sees widening spreads as chance to capture higher returns (RT)

  • Sentiment on private credit is 'divorced from the market-wide reality' (BBG)

  • Norway's $2.3T SWF posted a $30B Q3 loss (CNBC)

  • Wall Street sees Tesla-SpaceX merger as inevitable, but split on price (RT)

  • Anthropic IPO will drive blockbuster gains for ICONIQ, Spark, and GIC (BBG)

  • Musk's political baggage clouds prospects for SpaceX-Tesla deal (RT)

  • SpaceX is in talks to access 80k cell sites for new network (BBG)

  • BofA named Jim Fitterling and Bill Thomas as board members (RT)

  • Polymarket and Kalshi expand political donations as firms face scrutiny (RT)

  • Barclays to cut 5,000 jobs as bank steps up AI adoption (FT)

  • Comcast will take a $1B charge in a new restructuring effort (WSJ)

  • Trump's tourism push fails to lure visitors after World Cup (FT)

  • Zuck is open to billionaire tax as long as Meta control stays same (BBG)

  • Never-exhibited Monet sold for $56M at Sotheby's (BBG)

  • Billionaires are buying $100M mansions to tear them down and build bigger mansions (NYP)

A Message from Fundable

Automated investment sourcing

For growth equity and late-stage venture investors, building relationships with founders often starts years before an investment. Early funding rounds can be a great way to discover those startups and start conversations.

One consumer-focused growth equity fund has built an automated sourcing workflow around that idea.

The team describes each investment theme in plain English. Fundable monitors new funding rounds, identifies companies that match those themes, and automatically surfaces relevant opportunities.

Instead of digging through deal news every morning, they get a steady stream of companies that fit their investment strategy, including startups they might otherwise have missed.

Here's where it gets interesting: the team built its own internal sourcing dashboard, combining Fundable's data with the rest of its sourcing activities. Using Fundable's API, matching companies flow directly into that dashboard alongside the other information they already track. No extra platform to log into.

Try Fundable

Deal Flow

M&A / Strategic

  • Diamondback, ConocoPhillips, Chevron, EOG Resources, and ExxonMobil are potential buyers of $55B-listed Devon Energy, which is under activist pressure to sell itself just one year after merging with Coterra Energy

  • Shell and ExxonMobil are exploring an $8B sale of their UK-based chemicals JV Infineum

  • US pipeline operator Kinder Morgan approved $4.7B of ​investments in its Southern ​Natural Gas pipeline JV and NGPL pipeline JV

  • London Stock Exchange Group agreed to acquire global credit platform Octus from PE firm Permira for $3.5B cash

  • German family office Viessmann Generations Group will boost its stake in German soccer club Bayern Munich from 1.7% to 6.7% at a $4.5B valuation, joining Adidas, Volkswagen, and Allianz as major shareholders 

  • Elon Musk invested $1B in Skydance

  • Aussie energy infrastructure company APA Group  approved a $492M investment in the Bulloo Interlink ​Pipeline

  • Real estate investor David Werner acquired a 49% stake in 605 Third Avenue from real estate firm Fisher Brothers

  • Commodity trader Alkagesta agreed to buy Turkish shipping-fuel company Energy Petrol

  • XRG, the international investment arm of Abu Dhabi's state oil giant ADNOC, is in talks to buy a stake in the Libya O&G business of Italian energy firm Eni

VC

  • Satellite maker Apex is in talks to raise a $500M round at a $4B valuation led by Washington Harbour Partners

  • Warhound, Palmer Luckey's new startup cloning gene-edited bio-enhanced dogs and equipping them with custom Anduril military equipment, emerged from stealth with a $200M seed round at a $1.2B valuation from 8VC, Sequoia, and others

  • Helion, a fusion energy company backed by Josh Kushner, Peter Thiel, and Sam Altman, raised $175M from the US government

  • Today AI, a Chinese personal AI assistant company, raised $200M from IDG Capital, Tencent, 5Y Capital, HSG, and others

  • Enact Intelligence, a Swiss robotics startup building underlying tech for general-purpose robots, raised a $30M pre-seed round from institutional investors including Redalpine, Notion Capital, and Firstminute Capital

  • CapitalOS, a money orchestration and financial infrastructure platform for B2B software companies, raised a $21.9M Series A led by LGVP

Access the complete VC deal flow and data on Fundable

IPOs / Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

  • Korean chip darling SK Hynix scrapped plans for a $10B US listing of its Solidigm flash memory unit

  • Egypt's Banque du Caire boosted its record Egypt IPO plans from 30% to 45% to potentially raise $680M

  • UBS acquired a 4.8% stake in India's leading wealth manager 360 One for $200M

  • Kwa Nokeng Oil Holdings expanded its IPO to $118M on strong demand for Botswana's first listing in eight years

  • CATL-backed Chinese robotics maker Noetix Robotics filed for a Hong Kong IPO

SPAC / SPV

  • David's Bridal will separate its Pearl unit in a $350M merger with K&F Growth Acquisition Corp. II 

Debt

  • Texas developer KDC is seeking $3.5B in private financing for AT&T's new HQ near Dallas

  • Health system Trinity Health is planning a $628M bond sale

  • Reinsurer Hannover Re again raised the size of its seventh catastrophe bond to $450M

  • Blackstone led a $300M debt package backing Arlington Capital Partners' $462M LBO of UK specialist manufacturer Gooch & Housego

  • Car dealer financier NextGear Capital closed a $350M ABS

Debt

  • Optimum Communications is preparing to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy to hand control to creditors including Apollo, Oaktree, and JPMorgan and resolve litigation in a restructuring of its $26B debt load

  • TWG Global, Mark Walter's financial holding company which is under federal investigation, will swap $3.8B billion of affiliated assets from Delaware Life Insurance Co.

  • Partners Group-backed Eyecare Partners agreed to a deal with creditors including Anchorage, Diameter, and King Street to sell assets and repay some of its $2B of debt at a discount

  • A $1.3B CMBS on a Blackstone apartment portfolio was flagged for special servicing after it matured in October with $518M of balance still outstanding

  • Zorlu Enerji, a power producer and distributor owned by Turkish conglomerate Zorlu Holding, is seeking to delay a coupon payment on a $1.1B bond due this week

  • Liquidators to collapsed property giant China Evergrande are trying to recoup part of a donation made to Harvard 

  • Canadian pulp producer Mercer International may file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy

Bankruptcy / Restructuring / Distressed

  • Seaya, a Spanish VC backed by Banco Santander, raised $637M for a new fund focused on European startups

  • Chinese ​quant fund Lingjun Investment's offshore arm attracted $300M from overseas investors as it resumes fundraising two years after restrictions by Chinese regulators

  • Constellation Capital raised a $112M CV for German education platform CONSTELLATION Academy Group led by Committed Advisors

Crypto Sum Snapshot

  • Tokenized and on-chain trading volume surged to $37B in Q3

  • Circle shareholder sued Trump for illegally profiting off foreign crypto deals

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

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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.