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Good morning,

New 'Vid Variant just dropped. Investors were absolutely rattled by the headlines on Friday, causing a market-wide Black Friday special on stocks. Cue the "awww sh*t here we go again" meme. Could we be up for a surprise Cyber Monday special???

With Thanksgiving in the rearview mirror, we're in the final sprint to close out Q4. Bankers are rushing to announce / close deals to get meet their fee targets and buy side investors looking to deploy dry powder and close the year in the green. Let's get through it together fam, y'all got this 😤😤😤

Btw if you're looking for an alternative to your checking and savings accounts and actually want to earn yield on your money, check out today's sponsor – ZeFi.

Let's dive in.

Before The Bell

As of 11/26/21 market close.

To see the LitCap Yolo Fund's portfolio holdings, download the Iris Social Stock app here and give Litquidity a follow. If you want to learn more about crypto trading strategies and the world of DeFi, check out our Foot Guns newsletter.

Markets

  • The stock market was on sale for Black Friday. All three major indexes tanked at least 2%, for their biggest one day declines in 2021, after more news of the Omicron Covid variant spooked investors (On Sunday evening, Bill Ackman tweeted that early data suggests the symptoms from Omicron are less severe but more transmissible which he believes would be bullish for the equity market and bearish for the bond market)

  • The VIX jumped to its highest level in 2 months, as news arose that the new variant has more mutations to the spike protein, potentially showing increased resistance to vaccines

  • Bond yields also shot down on Friday, with the 10 yr dropping 15 basis points

  • Low interest rates have been a hallmark of the Covid era, and just as the cases from Delta decreased and yields began to rise again, in comes another variant. It will be interesting to see Omicron’s effects on rates with tapering on the horizon for 2022

  • Investors will be keeping a close eye on the news as Omicron spreads, new cases are confirmed in more countries, and increased border closures and travel restrictions arise (the return of the WFH stocks trade, perhaps???)

Earnings

What we're watching this week:

  • Tues: Salesforce

  • Weds: Snowflake, RBC

  • Thurs: Dollar General, DocuSign, Express, TD

  • Fri: BMO

  • Full calendar here

Headline Roundup

  • Netherlands, Denmark, and Australia confirm Omicron cases, as Israel bars foreign nationals from entry (CNBC)

  • Moderna says vaccine for Omicron could be ready in early 2022, as drugmakers scramble to begin testing (CNBC)

  • US health officials say Omicron not yet detected in US, but likely already here (WSJ)

  • Negotiators gather in Vienna looking to revive Iran nuclear agreement and tackle whether or not Iran’s nuclear advances make rekindling impossible (WSJ)

  • China asks Didi to delist from US on security fears (BBG)

  • Italy’s Nextalia raises $635M in first close of new PE fund (RT)

  • Fashion designer Virgil Abloh dies of cancer at age 41 (WSJ)

  • AMC, Sony offering NFTs to people who purchase advance Spider-Man tickets (CNBC)

A Message From ZeFi

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Deal Flow

M&A

  • The owners of UK grocer Asda Group are considering merging it with EG Group, an international gas station and convenience store operator, in a potential $35B deal (BBG)

  • Clearlake Capital Group agreed to buy Quest Software from Francisco Partners in a $5.4B deal (WSJ)

  • German software company Software AG is exploring strategic options, including a sale; it has a current market value of $3B (BBG)

  • NEO Energy agreed to buy $1.7B worth of UK North Sea assets from JX Nippon Oil & Gas (BBG)

  • Infra investors including Macquarie are among potential suitors for Snam’s natural gas storage unit with ~$4.5B in assets (BBG)

  • Siemens, Europe’s largest engineering company, has kicked off a sale of its postal logistics unit (BBG)

VC

  • Chinese mRNA vaccine developer Abogen is raising ~$300M in a round led by SoftBank Vision Fund (BBG)

  • Bangalore-based fintech Slice raised a $220M Series B at a $1B+ valuation led by Tiger Global and Insight Partners (TC)

  • Second-hand car auction platform Motorway raised a $190M Series C at a $1B+ valuation led by by Index Ventures and ICONIQ Growth (TC)

  • Jefa, a Latam fintech startup offering digital accounts designed for women, raised a $2M seed round from The Venture Collective, DST Global, Foundation Capital, and more (TC)

IPO / Direct Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

  • Cloud Village, the music streaming arm of Chinese gaming company NetEase raised $422M in its IPO (BBG)

Exec's Picks – Cyber Monday Edition

  • If you donated to ConstitutionDAO and haven't touched anything, you may be in for a pretty big treat if you claim the $PEOPLE tokens and add to your ETH wallet. You can choose to ride the meme wave or swap for Ether on Uniswap. (OBV. NOT FINANCIAL ADVICE)

  • Sick deals available on Amazon Prime. One of my favorites is this dank beverage / wine refrigerator that's 20% off the list price

  • We may or may not have another sale running over at the Litquidity merch store. Cop some holiday gear for the office party, white elephants, secret santas, and the big day itself  

  • Size movers only: if you're in the market for some luxury watches. Check out Jomashop's store where you can find deals on Patek, Blancpain, IWC, Rolex, and other premium brands

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 100+ 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.

Featured job of the day:

  • BitGo, a provider of capital markets infrastructure for cryptocurrencies, is looking to hire an Institutional Sales Associate in New York City. They're backed by the most prominent investment banks, prop trading firms, Silicon Valley VCs, and digital asset investors. Apply here

If you're looking to hire candidates and want to post a job, all you have to do is hit "+ Hire Talent" on the top right of the job board.

To Candidates: We've also partnered up with Portal Jobs for a more hands-on approach to matching talent with relevant jobs. Fill out the form here and we'll get to work on placing you in a relevant gig 🤝

Meme Cleanser

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