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Nvidia's crucial earnings beat didn't do much to boost stock market sentiment after-hours, at a time where US equities are already taking a beating. On a related note, active fund allocation to Big Tech stocks fell to the lowest since 2008.

Move on from the daily deluge of tedious tasks and streamline all your investment processes with BlueFlame AI, a bespoke enterprise AI for alternative investments.

Let's dive in.

Before The Bell

As of 2/26/2025 market close.

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Markets

  • US stocks closed mixed yesterday as investors awaited bellwether Nvidia's earnings for industry clues on AI and tech 

    • S&P and Nasdaq broke four-day losing streaks

  • Europe's Stoxx 600 hit a new ATH 

  • US-Germany 10Y yield spread narrowed to 184 bps to the tightest since October and on track for its biggest monthly decline since May

  • Oil fell to two-month lows

  • Cryptocurrencies have lost over $800B in market cap YTD

Earnings

  • Nvidia beat on Q4 earnings and revenue and Q1 forecast estimates as AI demand holds strong despite the rise of China's low-cost DeepSeek (CNBC) 

  • Salesforce beat Q4 earnings estimates but missed on revenue and forecast FY sales below estimates amid slower adoption of its AI agents (CNBC) 

  • Snowflake surged 11% after beating Q4 earnings estimates and providing upbeat FY product revenue forecast on rising cloud service growth amid advancements in AI (RT)

  • Lowe's beat Q4 earnings estimates after also positing positive same-store sales growth for the first time in two years (CNBC) 

  • What we're watching this week:  

    • Today: TD Bank Group, Dell

  • Full calendar here

Headline Roundup

  • US threatened 25% tariffs on EU goods (RT)

  • Fed's QT expectations upended by debt-ceiling worries (RT)

  • Fund managers' allocation to mega caps is at lowest since 2008 (BBG)

  • Markets eye new wave of joint European bonds in defense push (RT)

  • China clamped down on local firms listing in US (FT)

  • PE and VC execs criticized UK's private share trading plan (FT)

  • Top UK firms plan to boost exec pay to match US (FT)

  • China quant says funds must adopt AI to survive after DeepSeek (BBG)

  • Activist Starboard is trailing peers with sub-5% returns YTD (BBG)

  • Canada's CDPQ will scale back PE directs (BBG)

  • CDPQ missed benchmark with 9.4% return last year (BBG)

  • Goldman Sachs named president and COO John Waldron to the board (RT)

  • UniCredit raised CEO Orcel's pay by 30% to $14M (RT)

  • Nissan plans to replace its CEO after failed Honda merger (BBG)

  • PsiQuantum is making quantum computing chips at commercial pace (RT)

  • Amazon revamped Alexa with AI (CNBC)

  • Google laid off employees in cloud (BBG)

  • Wells Fargo scrapped DEI in senior-level hiring (BBG)

  • Trump pressured Apple to scrap DEI despite shareholder support (BBG)

  • John Deere shareholders voted against anti-DEI resolution (RT)

  • SEC told staff to return to office (RT)

  • US new home sales tumbled with prices at the highest since 2022 (RT)

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Deal Flow

M&A / Investments

  • Japanese trading/investment house Itochu withdrew from a proposed founding family-led $60B MBO of 7-Eleven-owner Seven & i Holdings; Canadian convenience store giant Couche-Tard remains interested

  • ECB is poised to approve Italy's UniCredit's purchase of 29.9% stake in $27B-listed German rival Commerzbank

  • Bain Capital is weighing a sale of automation software provider Rocket Software at a $10B valuation, including debt

  • UK-based Arjun Infrastructure Partners is in advanced talks to acquire a minority $3.9B portfolio of assets in Brookfield-owned French data center operator Data4

  • Ben & Jerry's founders Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield are in talks to buy back the ice cream brand from UK consumer goods giant Unilever at a several billion dollars valuation

  • Asian investment firm PAG is considering a potential $1.2B sale of its 54% stake in India-listed Nuvama Wealth Management

  • French PE firm Ardian agreed to acquire another 10% stake in Heathrow Airport from Spanish infrastructure group Ferrovial, Canadian pension CDPQ, and UK pension Universities Superannuation Scheme for $1.1B to raise its stake to 32%

  • Japan Post-unit JWT offered to acquire Japanese logistics company Tonami Holdings for $619M

  • Italian PE firm Nextalia is exploring a potential $260M sale of Italian wealth tech firm Firstance

  • State-owned China International Capital Corp will merge with peer China Galaxy Securities to create a $193B AUM brokerage

  • Sauid's PIF is in talks to invest in Italian defense firm Leonardo's aerostructures unit

  • Chevron is interested in buying Phillips 66's stake in a chemicals JV that activist Elliott is pushing the oil refiner to exit

VC

  • Thinking Machine Labs, the AI startup founded by OpenAI's ex-CTO Mira Murati, is aiming to raise $1B at a $9B valuation

  • YouTuber MrBeast is looking to raise a couple hundred million dollars at a ~$5B valuation for his holdco, which houses various consumer and media businesses

  • Drug discovery biotech Eikon Therapeutics raised a $350.7M Series D from Lux Capital, General Catalyst, Soros Capital, StepStone, and more

  • Raise, a blockchain-powered payments and loyalty company, raised a $63M round led by Haun Ventures

  • Camber, a startup improving healthcare reimbursement processes, raised a $30M Series B led by a16z

  • Regie.ai, a sales enablement platform, raised a $30M Series B led by Scale Venture Partners and Foundation Capital

  • Gozem, a West African ride-hailing and vehicle financing startup, raised a $30M Series B led by Al Mada Ventures

  • Capim, a Brazilian vertical SaaS for the dental industry, raised a $26.7M Series A led by Valor Capital and QED Investors

  • Loyal, a clinical stage animal health startup, raised a $22M Series B-2 led by Valor Equity Partners and Collaborative Fund

  • Canadian SMB banking platform Venn raised a $21.5M Series A led by Left Lane Capital

  • Virtual real estate platform Open Meta City raised $20M in funding from GEM Digital

  • CarbonQuest, a distributed carbon capture technology provider, raised $20M in funding led by Riverbend Energy Group

  • Bridgetown Research, an AI startup speeding up due diligence, raised a $19M Series A led by Accel and Lightspeed

  • Pet healthtech startup Napo raised a $15.2M Series B led by Mercia Ventures

  • Flanks, an end-to-end wealth management platform, raised a $14.6M round led by Motive Ventures

  • Turing, an AI-driven water management startup, raised a $14M round led by Safar Partners

  • EV charging startup Wallbox raised a $10M investment from Inversiones Financieras Perseo, Orilla Asset Management, and co-founder Enric Asunción

  • Anagram, a startup making employee cybersecurity training more engaging, raised a $10M Series A led by Madrona

  • SkyMirr, a startup building RF technology and devices, raised a $7.3M Series A led by Solyco Capital

  • UK pharma tech startup Ignota Labs raised a $6.9M seed round led by Montage Ventures and AIX Ventures

  • Defense tech startup Rune Technologies raised a $6.2M seed round led by a16z

  • Musubi, an AI platform for Trust and Safety, raised a $5M seed round led by J2 Ventures

  • Continue, a startup helping developers create customized coding assistants, raised a $3M seed round led by Heavybit

IPO / Direct Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

  • AI cloud computing startup CoreWeave may file for an IPO to raise $4B at a $35B valuation as soon as this week 

  • Uber rival Bolt Technology, last valued at $7.8B in 2022, is exploring options including an IPO as soon as next year

  • Exor, the family office of Italy's Agnelli family, is selling a 4%, $3.15B stake in Ferrari to reduce its holding to 30%

  • Emasan, the family office of Switzerland's Sandoz family, raised $2.9B in a ~1% stake sale of Swiss pharma giant Novartis

  • Chinese EV truckmaker Zhizi Automobile is considering a $200M Hong Kong IPO

Debt

  • Banks and private credit firms are competing to lend $6.8B to Blackstone and Permira-backed online classifieds group Adevinta, which is seeking to refinance $4.8B of debt

  • Kenya sold $1.5B of bonds as part of a debt swap to lengthen its maturity profile

Bankruptcy / Restructuring / Distressed

  • FTX's bankruptcy fees hit $950M in the costliest Chapter 11 since Lehman Brothers, with creditors and customers poised to recover over 100% of assets

  • Endeavour Capital-backed Dynamic Aerostructures, which makes specialized parts for fighter jets, SpaceX and Blue Origin, filed for bankruptcy with plans to sell itself

Fundraising

  • Blackstone raised $5.6B for its fourth clean energy transition fund

  • Neuberger Berman raised $1.05B for its latest real estate PE secondary fund

Crypto Sum Snapshot

  • Bitcoin ETF outflows hit a record $1B

  • SEC closed its investigation into Gemini

  • Check out our Crypto Sum newsletter for the full stories on everything crypto!

Exec’s Picks

  • Invest in the backbone of the digital economy fueling Bitcoin, AI and global data centers. Chicago Atlantic Digital Mining Fund offers 29.8%1 historical annualized distributions, monthly cash flows, and leverages appreciating energy infrastructure in a power-starved market – Invest now to lock in 2025's 40% bonus depreciation.

    1As of 12/31/24.

  • Prominent tech investment firm Coatue published a super insightful analysis on 'America’s Industrial Reboot,' discussing how decades of stagnation have held back our industrial base, and the massive opportunity we have right now to transform it.

  • Nick Maggiulli wrote a great piece on the factor of age when it comes to investing.

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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"