Together with

Good Morning,

US stocks absolutely rocketed on reports of Trump planning a swift end to the Iran war.

Warmer weather means its time for a wardrobe upgrade…and there's no better way than to start with some fresh pairs of amberjacks. Snag some new pairs and transform your shoe game in time for summer.

Let's dive in.

Before The Bell

As of 3/31/2026 market close.

Learn more about the Litquidity portfolios and subscribe to the strategies on Autopilot.*

Markets

  • US stocks ripped yesterday on reports of a swift end to the Iran war

    • All three major indexes posted their best day since May

    • S&P nonetheless lost 7% its worst quarter since 2022 

  • Europe's Stoxx 600 fell 6.5% in its worst month since 2022

    • Stoxx 600 Banks index fell 7% in Q1 to end a three-year bull run

  • MSCI EM index lost 13% in its worst month since Covid to erase all YTD gains

  • Taiwan stocks outperformed Korea by the most since 2009

    • Taiwan's index lost 10% in March, while Korea's Kospi plunged 19%

  • US junk bonds posted their first negative quarter since a 9.8% decline in Q2 2022

  • US munis fell 2.5% in their worst month in over two years

  • US average gas prices topped $4/gal for the first time since 2022 

  • Gold fell 11% in its worst month since 2008 

  • Aluminum gained 12% in its biggest monthly gain in eight years

  • Bitcoin snapped a five-month losing streak

Earnings

  • Nike beat Q3 earnings and revenue estimates despite economic headwinds as its turnaround efforts gain traction, though its China market continues to struggle (CNBC)

  • Full calendar here

Prediction Markets

  • Traders are rapidly unwinding Fed rate hike bets that spiked due to the Iran war. A lot of pressure on Trump to get oil supply issues and economic worries under control…

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

Headline Roundup

  • US is willing to end Iran war without reopening Strait of Hormuz (WSJ)

  • US job openings fell with hiring at the slowest since Covid (WSJ)

  • Wall Street brokerages are still projecting two Fed rate cuts for 2026 (RT)

  • Bond traders ditch inflation bets as oil surge threatens growth (BBG)

  • Foreign central banks have sold US Treasuries in wake of Iran war (FT)

  • Global M&A volume hit $1.3T in the best Q1 ever (BBG)

  • PE-backed firms borrowed $94B last year to fund dividend recaps (BBG)

  • US banks raise borrowing costs for private credit funds amid AI fears (RT)

  • Private credit delays reckoning with PIK concessions on stressed debt (RT)

  • Private credit and PE firms face uphill fight for 401(k) access (BBG)

  • Goldman tells eager clients that loan shorting instrument isn't ready yet (BBG)

  • Just three firms are driving Europe's $500B stock rout (BBG)

  • JPMorgan launched the 'American Dream Initiative' (WSJ) 

  • BlackRock is weighing HSBC's Canary Wharf tower for new London HQ (FT)

  • Mark Cuban regrets selling Dallas Mavericks to Miriam Adelson (BBG)

  • Musk face new setback in lawsuits over 2022 Twitter LBO (BBG)

  • Anthropic accidentally leaked the source code for Claude Code (CNBC)

  • TikTok is seeking a Brazil fintech license to offer credit (RT)

  • Meta unveiled two Ray-Ban smart glasses for prescription users (RT)

  • US audit regulator pledges to rewrite oversight rule after backlash (FT)

  • KPMG faces allegations of blown audit in private credit collapse (BBG)

  • Argentina poverty fell to the lowest since 2018 under Milei (BBG)

A Message from amberjacks

New season, new shoes

With summer season around the corner, it's time to upgrade your shoes. And what better place to start than with a pair of fresh amberjacks.

amberjack is the modern footwear brand started by execs from Adidas, Cole Haan, and McKinsey. They've created the world's most advanced dress shoes, made with proprietary athletic materials that deliver incredible comfort and A-grade leather vertically sourced from one of the world's leading tanneries.

They've been featured in Forbes, GQ, and Wall Street Journal and Men's Health named them the most comfortable business casual shoe just last year. The only downside is they constantly sell out – get yours today before they're gone!

Shop amberjack

Deal Flow

M&A / Strategic

  • Spices and seasonings giant McCormick agreed to acquire the foods business of UK consumer goods giant Unilever in a $45B cash-and-stock deal, including debt

  • Eli Lilly agreed to acquire sleep-focused biotech Centessa Pharmaceuticals in an up to $7.8B deal

  • Biogen has agreed to acquire biotech Apellis Pharmaceuticals for $5.6B at a 135% premium

  • KKR will make a tender offer to buy all shares of Japanese chemical ​manufacturer Taiyo Holdings for $3.3B

  • Carlyle will acquire a majority stake ‌in wealth management firm MAI Capital Management at a $2.8B valuation

  • A minority shareholder of beverage giant Diageo's Kenyan subsidiary asked Kenya to compel Japanese beverage group Asahi Group to make a mandatory takeover offer to all investors in the latest headwind to the $2.3B stake sale

  • Nvidia invested $2B in $86B-listed chip firm Marvell Technology

  • BlackRock partnered with the Greater Manchester Pension Fund to invest $1.3B in NHS real estate

  • Brookfield acquired Fidere, a Spanish residential portfolio, from Blackstone for $1.1B

  • China's TCL Electronics agreed to buy a 51% stake in Sony's global home entertainment business for $472M 

  • Critical minerals firm Virtus acquired one of the world's largest cobalt producers not already in China's hands Chemaf for $30M and raise $720M for investments

  • Cordillera Investment Partners acquired a minority stake in UK sports law firm Northridge Law

VC

  • OpenAI raised a record $122B at an $852B post-money valuation co-led by SoftBank; Amazon, Nvidia, and SoftBank alone committed a combined $110B

  • Saronic, an autonomous maritime systems company, raised a $1.75B Series D at a $9.25B valuation led by Kleiner Perkins

  • Wearable tech maker WHOOP raised a $575M Series G at a $10.1B valuation led by Collaborative Fund

  • EnerVenue, anon-lithium metal-hydrogen energy storage startup, raised a $300M Series B extension led by Full Vision Capital

  • Rivian's micromobility spinoff Also raised a $200M Series C led by Greenoaks 

  • 9fin, a UK AI-powered analytics platform for credit and DCM, raised a $170M Series C at a $1.3B led by HarbourVest

  • Keyrock, a Belgian digital-asset market maker and institutional trading platform, raised a $100M open Series C at a $1.1B valuation led by SC Ventures

  • FX payments startup OpenFX raised a $94M funding round led by Accel, Atomico, Lightspeed Faction, M13, Northzone, and Pantera amid a cross-border stablecoin push

  • depthfirst, an applied AI lab developing security solutions, raised an $80M Series B led by Meritech Capital 

  • Internet intelligence platform Censys raised a $40M Series D from Decibel Partners, Greylock Partners, GV, and Intel Capital

  • Sycamore Partners, an enterprise AI agent startup, raised a $65M seed round

  • Monarch Quantum, a developer of integrated photonics hardware for quantum technologies, raised a $55M growth round led by Serendipity Capital

  • Voltify, a startup decarbonizing the rail industry, raised a $30M seed round co-led by  Aleph and Australian miner Fortescue

  • Antaris, an AI-powered space software company, raised a $28M Series A led by WestWave Capital 

  • ThinkLabs AI, an AI-powered grid intelligence company, raised a $28M Series A led by Energy Impact Partners 

  • Bachatt, an AI-led savings and wealth platform, raised a $12M Series A led by Accel

  • memQ, a developer of quantum networking solutions, raised a $10M Series A co-led by Quantonation and Ocean Azul Partners

  • CavilinQ, a quantum hardware startup, raised an $8.8M seed round led by QVT

Access the complete VC deal flow and data on Fundable

IPOs / Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

  • China's Sinochem-owned agro-chemicals giant Syngenta is planning a Hong Kong IPO at a potential ~$50B valuation

  • Advent and Cinven-owned TK Elevator is weighing a Europe IPO at a potential $29B valuation, including debt, as sales talks to rival Kone progress 

  • Italian infrastructure operator Mundys is set to unveil a plan to raise its 15% stake in $12B-listed French Channel Tunnel operator Getlink 

  • Franco-German tankmaker KNDS is gauging investor interest for a Europe IPO that could raise $5.8B

  • Activist hedge fund Irenic built a 2.5% stake in $8B-listed Snapchat-owner Snap Inc.

  • A Singapore-based REIT of China's JD.com, Switzerland-based Partners Group, and Hillhouse-backed EZA Hill Property Management picked banks for a $775M Singapore IPO 

  • Blackstone began talks for an India IPO of healthcare billing firm AGS Health which could raise $500M at a $3B valuation

SPAC / SPV

  • Used car retailer Carvix will merge with Crown Reserve Acquisition in a $1B deal

Debt

  • AI cloud computing firm CoreWeave raised $8.5B from a group of banks in the largest chip-backed debt deal ever

  • Chinese appliance maker Midea Group is considering a $2B potential convertible bond sale 

  • French AI startup Mistral raised $830M in debt financing to fund data center expansion

Bankruptcy / Restructuring / Distressed

  • Distressed developer China Vanke posted a record $12.8B FY loss as $14B in short-term debt maturities loom

  • Senior lenders to Vista-backed software firm Solera including Apollo and PIMCO hired legal advisors ahead of a 2028 debt maturity

Funds / Secondaries

  • Oaktree-backed UK private credit manager 17Capital raised $7.5B for the biggest-ever NAV lending fund in a secondaries push

  • UK PE firm BC Partners raised $2.5B for a targeted $5.8B twelfth flagship fund

  • MM FOF Apogem Capital raised $1.4B for its seventh secondaries fund

  • Credit firm OIC raised $1.6B for its fourth opportunities fund to continue investing in MM infrastructure

  • BlackRock will launch a $400M quant fund to trade Singapore stocks

  • French PE firm Abenex raised $210M for its second small cap fund

  • Japanese firms including Mitsubishi, SMBC, and Toyota Ventures invested in a $147M Africa VC fund of Novastar Ventures 

  • Alceon Private Equity, the PE unit of Australian asset manager Alceon Group, is seeking $69M for a lower MM PE fund

  • Sarah Guo's VC Conviction Partners is seeking to raise a third flagship fund and second expansion vehicle 

Crypto Sum Snapshot

  • Tether fired two senior metals traders after just three months

  • Google warned that crypto quantum risk may arrive earlier than forecasted

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

Off-Market❤️‍🔥

  • Over the past few years, I've helped several people in the Litquidity community find love and have also been pressed countless times to launch a dating app.

  • Decided to try something different. Here's a chance to mingle in-person with a highly-curated group: RSVP here.

Lit's Pics

Meme Cleanser

🛒 Merch Store: Visit our merch store to shop our latest apparel, shoes, bags, accessories and more. 

💵 Litquidity Ventures: Accredited investors & qualified purchasers within the Litquidity community can gain access to alternative investments such as venture, late-stage growth, and private equity through Litquidity Ventures. Interested? Fill out this form.

☎️ Book a call with Lit: Want to pick Litquidity's brain on business advice, insights, or just chat to say what's up? Buy his time here.

📧 Launch your own newsletter: Have great content ideas and looking to launch your own publication? We highly recommend beehiiv to get started.

*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.