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Good Morning,

J Pow said it's time to cool down the printer and raise some rates, markets fell into the close, Djokovic found a new country to play tennis, Supreme Court Justice Breyer is retiring, Tesla posted great earnings but the Cybertruck is delayed (again), Boeing had production problems with the 787 this quarter, J&J mega-merger looks unlikely, Bentley plans to go full-EV by 2030, and UBS is buying Wealthfront.

McDonald's earnings are coming up this morning, we'll see if investors are "lovin' it".

Let's dive in.

Before The Bell

As of 1/26/2022 market close.

If you want to learn more about crypto trading strategies and the world of DeFi, check out our Foot Guns newsletter.

Markets

  • Stocks were slightly down on Wednesday, with the Dow shedding 129 points, the S&P losing 0.2%, and the Nasdaq staying fairly flat after it was pulled up by Microsoft’s post earnings beat jump

  • The Fed’s concluded its two-day meeting today, and investors are now fairly certain about a March rate hike kicking off the tapering timeline, and some are even considering the possibility of four or even five rate hikes in 2022

  • Another huge day of earnings is on deck which will drive markets along with continued digestion of the news that came from the Fed’s meeting

Earnings

  • Tesla stock fell slightly after hours yesterday even though the EV company beat on both top and bottom lines; Elon Musk said that supply chain issues were the ‘main limiting factor’ and released a ‘product road map’ which includes no new models for 2022 (CNBC)

  • Boeing said production problems and delivery delays with its 787 Dreamliner jet would cost it another $4.5B as they reported their third annual loss in a row; they announced plans to secure more orders boost production further in 2022 (WSJ)

  • AT&T posted Q4 profit after improving wireless revenue and shedding its customer-losing pay-TV business last year, saying they expect to continue to boost revenue in its core cellular business in 2022 (WSJ) 

  • Intel fell 2.5%+ AH after posting slimmer-than-expected profit margins and announcing that margins are expected to stay pressured long term as the company increases manufacturing capacity (MW)

  • What we’re watching today: Mastercard, Apple, McDonald’s, Visa, Blackstone, JetBlue, Robinhood

  • Full calendar here

Headline Roundup

  • Activision Blizzard staff seeking union election face company opposition (BBG)

  • Djokovic to compete in Dubai, where Covid-19 vaccine is optional for entrants (BBG)

  • KOKO aims to replace charcoal in $47B cooking fuel market (BBG)

  • J&J consumer unit mega-merger looks unlikely, CFO suggests (BBG)

  • Canadian National Railway names a new CEO, averts proxy fight (WSJ)

  • Bentley to invest $3.4B to exclusively offer EVs by 2030 (CNBC)

  • Barclays lost about $100M on collapsed Advent bid (BBG)

  • Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer to retire (WSJ)

  • Omicron deaths in US exceed Delta’s peak as Covid-19 optimism rises in Europe (WSJ)

  • Intel wins appeal of $1.2B EU antitrust fine (WSJ)

  • Mattel wins Disney princess toy deal, joining Elsa of ‘Frozen’ with Barbie (WSJ)

  • Powell supports raising rates in March, won't rule out further hikes (BBG)

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Deal Flow

M&A / Investments

  • Buyout group Atlantic Bidco, which includes Advent International and Centerbridge Partners, increased their bid for Germany’s Aareal Bank to $2.1B (RT)

  • UBS agreed to buy US robo adviser Wealthfront for $1.4B (BBG)

  • French materials firm Imerys is planning a sale of its high temperature solutions business that could fetch up to $1B (BBG)

  • French industrial conglomerate Schneider Electric is weighing a sale of Telemecanique, its industrial automation and control unit, which could fetch ~$1B (BBG)

  • Wells Fargo is considering a sale of it’s 20% stake in Hong Kong lender Shanghai Commercial Bank that could fetch almost $1B (BBG)

  • PE firm Standard General agreed to buy the remaining shares of casino and entertainment company Bally’s that it doesn’t already own at a 30% premium (BBG)

  • WeWork agreed to buy coworking startup Common Desk (BBG)

  • Hazel, Walmart’s fintech venture, agreed to buy fintech platforms Even and ONE and plans to combine them under the ONE brand name (BBG)

  • Crime-alert app Citizen agreed to buy Harbor, a startup that gamifies emergency preparation and home security (BBG)

  • The investment firms that own French luxury crystal maker Baccarat are considering options for the company including a sale (BBG)

  • Israeli spyware firm NSO is in talks with a number of US funds over “various financial moves” (RT)

VC

  • UK payments company SumUp is considering raising $560M+ in a funding round at a potential ~$22.6B valuation (BBG)

  • Crypto exchange FTX US raised a $400M Series A at an $8B valuation from Paradigm, Temasek, Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan Board, SoftBank Vision Fund 2, Greenoaks Capital, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and more (PRN)

  • Live entertainment tech startup Fever raised a $227M round led by Goldman Sachs Asset Management (PRN)

  • Paack, a logistics platform integrating robots and software, raised a $225M Series D led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2 (TC)

  • Cloud data warehouse builder Firebolt raised a $100M Series C at a $1.4B valuation led by Alkeon Capital (PRN)

  • Sales commission software company CaptivateIQ raised a $100M Series C at a $1.25M valuation led by ICONIQ Growth (PRN)

  • Kyverna Therapeutics, a cell therapy company focused on engineering new therapies for autoimmune diseases, raised an $85M Series B led by Northpond Ventures (PRN)

  • Vecna Robotics, a startup looking to automate warehouse forklift activities, raised a $65M Series C led by Tiger Global (TC)

  • Industrial safety and wearable data analytics startup StrongArm Technologies raised a $50M Series B led by Drive Capital (PRN)

  • Resilience, a French cancer care startup, raised a $45M Series A led by Cathay Innovation (TC)

  • GrowSatri, the B2B e-commerce platform serving Filipino MSMEs, raised a $45M Series C led by KKR (BW)

  • Polly, a SaaS startup modernizing mortgage capital markets, raised a $37M Series B led by Menlo Ventures (BW)

  • Cloud-native application security startup Slim AI raised a $31M Series A led by Insight Partners (PRN)

  • Infermedica, a digital health company specializing in AI, raised a $30M Series B led by One Peak (PRN)

  • PQShield, a startup building future-proof cryptographic solutions, raised a $20M Series A led by Oxford Science Enterprises (TC)

  • DigitalOwl, the first NLP startup to analyze and summarize medical records, raised a $20M Series A led by Insight Partners (BW)

  • Construction verification startup SiteAware raised a $15M Series B led by Vertex Ventures Israel (PRN)

  • Virtual reality metaverse studio Alta raised a $12.4M seed round led by a16z and Makers Fund (TC)

  • Byteboard, a startup changing the way engineers are hired, raised a $5M seed round led by Cowboy Ventures (TC)

IPO / Direct Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

  • Solar module manufacturer Jinko Solar more than doubled on its first day of trading in Shanghai (BBG)

  • Spotify-backed music streamer Soundtrack Your Brand is planning a US IPO (BBG)

SPAC

  • Akili Interactive, a startup that has developed a video game to help treat attention-deficit disorders in kids, agreed to merge with Social Capital Suvretta Holdings Corp. I in a ~$1B deal (BBG)

Exec's Picks

  • Atossa Araxia Abrahamian wrote a great piece about "The Inequality Industry" yesterday. Check out her thoughts on why conversations about inequality have shifted in recent years, and what that means, in this article.

  • If you are worried about inflation killing your savings, check out ZeFi – a Y Combinator-backed company with an app to save, spend and earn up to 8% APY on your deposits. How is 8% APY possible? The answer is DeFi protocols. Sign up here and get started for free in just a few minutes.

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 40+ 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.

See below for a few featured job opportunities:

  • Matchbook Capital, the corporate venture arm of Swisher, is hiring an Associate to work out of their Jacksonville, FL office. The associate will be responsible for developing, managing, and owning incubations or acquisition projects to bring a new set of innovative products to market. The ideal candidate will have 2-5 years of experience in a start-up, start-up environment, or consulting firm. Apply here.

  • Podium Education, one of the fastest growing edtech companies in the US, is hiring a Head of Finance to work out of their Austin, TX HQ. The HoF will be instrumental in scaling the business and maintaining the financial health of Podium as they enter a high growth phase. The ideal candidate will have at least 6+ years of experience in IB, PE, or FP&A. Apply here.

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