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Good Morning,

US stocks are getting absolutely hammered, Citadel and Millennium posted losses in February, US paused all military aid to Ukraine, and Citigroup's operations cannot seem to catch a break.

BOXABL is on a mission to revolutionize home construction and they're inviting retail investors to help them expand. Check out the offering.

Let's dive in.

Before The Bell

As of 3/3/2025 market close.

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Markets

  • US stocks slumped yesterday following confirmation of US tariffs on Canada and Mexico

    • S&P had its worst day YTD, now down 5% from its mid-February high

    • S&P traded ±1.5% for a third-straight day for the first time since Covid

  • Europe's Stoxx 600 hit a new ATH boosted by defense stocks

    • Germany's DAX, France's CAC 40, and UK's FTSE 100 all hit ATHs

  • Asian stocks fell to one-month lows

  • India's NIFTY 50 index is set to fall for a record tenth-straight day amid a $1T dumping spree

  • US 10Y yield fell to lowest level since October

  • US 5Y and shorter-maturity yields fell below 4% for the first time since October

    • Global investment-grade corporate credit spreads widened for an eighth-straight day to 90 bps

  • Oil dropped to the lowest in three months

  • Iron ore fell for a sixth-straight day to an over six-week low on tariffs

  • Lumber rose to a 2.5-year high on tariffs 

  • Canadian dollar and Mexican peso fell to one-month lows

Earnings

  • What we're watching this week:  

    • Today: Target, Best Buy, CrowdStrike, Nordstrom, AutoZone

    • Wednesday: Abercrombie & Fitch, Victoria's Secret, LandBridge

    • Thursday: Costco, Broadcom, Macy's, Gap

  • Full calendar here

Headline Roundup

  • US tariffs on Canada and Mexico will go into effect today (BBG)

  • Balyasny gained while Millennium and Citadel fell in February turmoil (BBG)

  • Private credit pay jumped over 15% last year (BBG)

  • S&P 500 0DTE options trading hit a record (BBG)

  • Goldman CEO sees 'very small' chance of US recession (BBG)

  • Bankers see Europe IPOs ramping up after slow start (BBG)

  • Deutsche Bank clashed with ECB over bad loan losses (FT)

  • South Korean groups step up restructuring and M&A amid tariff threats (FT)

  • FDIC approved rollback of Biden-era bank M&A plan (BBG)

  • SEC lawyer says lax private funding rules risk killing IPOs (BBG)

  • Treasury will not enforce certain anti-money laundering law (RT)

  • Carlyle is eying $5B in IPO exits this year in deal flow ramp up (RT)

  • Hong Kong's $350B margin loan boom is fueling China's IPO market (BBG)

  • FTSE will allow euro and dollar stocks to join major UK benchmarks (BBG)

  • Goldman's fundamental equity CIO Steve Barry will retire (BBG)

  • Citi's head of consumer and retail M&A David Finkelstein will depart (RT)

  • Citi fat-thumbed a client's account again (BBG)

  • TSMC will invest $100B in US (RT)

  • Kroger and Albertsons CEOs resigned on coincidental same day (FT)

  • California ordered ~100k state workers back to office (BBG)

  • US paused military aid to Ukraine (BBG)

A Message from BOXABL

Housing and building construction are big issues today, in a trillion-dollar market with a shortage of homes, there is a real need for a solution. And we think BOXABL has the solution.

BOXABL has raised $170M since 2020 to make quality housing affordable for everyone. Their plan is scaling factory mass production. Join 40,000 investors, shares are $0.80 each and the minimum investment is just $1,000.

Invest in BOXABL today.

*This is a paid advertisement for Boxabl's Regulation A offering. Please read the offering circular here. This is a message from Boxabl.

Deal Flow

M&A / Investments

  • 7-Eleven-owner Seven & i Holdings rejected a $47B bid from Canadian convenience store giant Couche-Tard due to US antitrust concerns

  • Austrian petrochemicals firm OMV and Abu Dhabi's ADNOC agreed to merge their polyolefins units and jointly acquire Nova Chemicals from SWF Mubadala for $13.4B, including debt to form a $60B chemicals giant

  • Sycamore Partners is nearing a take-private of Walgreens Boots Alliance at a $10B valuation

  • PE firm Genstar will acquire a majority stake in First Eagle Investment Management from Blackstone and Corsair Capital at a $4B valuation

  • French PE firm PAI Partners will acquire an 80% stake in European hotel chain Motel One at a $3.6B valuation

  • REIT Welltower is set to acquire Canadian senior living company Amica Senior Lifestyles' portfolio from Canada's OTPP for $3.2B

  • An indirect unit of WE Soda acquired the soda ash manufacturing arm from Genesis Energy for $1.4B

  • Real estate firm Howard Hughes Holdings' board called Bill Ackman's Pershing Square's $977.5M offer 'not acceptable in its current form'

  • PE firm Audax is in advanced talks to buy a 50% stake in Fortis Payment Systems from Lovell Minnick Partners at an $850M valuation

  • UK's Warehouse REIT rejected a $598M bid by Blackstone and Sixth Street

  • US ethanol giant Green Plains is considering a sale after its CEO stepped down

  • Mercedes-Benz and BMW are weighing the sale of taxi-hailing app FreeNow at a $521M valuation

  • Dutch bank ING agreed to acquire a 17.6% stake worth $367M in Dutch private bank Van Lanschot Kempen to increase its holding to 20%

  • Blackstone acquired a 60% stake in Japanese drug trial firm CMIC for hundreds of millions of dollars

  • Insurance firm Chubb will acquire Liberty Mutual's Thailand and Vietnam insurance assets

  • Southeast Asia ride-hailing leader Grab will buy Malaysian supermarket chain Everrise from Navis Capital Partners

  • Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian joined businessman Frank McCourt's bid for TikTok US

VC

  • AI startup Anthropic raised a $3.5B Series E at a $61.5B valuation led by Lightspeed Venture Partners

  • Business banking fintech Ramp sold $150M of secondary shares to GIC, Stripes, Thrive Capital, Khosla Ventures and General Catalyst at a $13B valuation

  • China's largest ride-hailing company Didi Global is seeking fresh capital for its autonomous driving unit at a $5B valuation

  • US news network Newsmax closed a $225M Series B as it prepares for an IPO

  • Chinese AI startup Zhipu raised over $140M from Alibaba, Shangcheng Capital, and more

  • Chinese medtech startup Pulnovo Medical raised a $100M Series C led by Qiming Venture Partners and Lilly Asia Ventures

  • Viam, an engineering platform for data, AI, and automation, raised a $30M Series C led by Union Square Ventures

  • Coalition, an active insurance provider designed to prevent cyber risk, raised $30M from Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance

  • Cloudsmith, a cloud-native artifact management platform, raised a $23M Series B led by TCV

  • Echandia, a Swedish maritime battery system supplier, raised a $21M round led by Klima and Industrifonden

  • AI licensing and protection platform Vermillio raised a $16M Series A led by Sony Music and DNS Capital

  • Subscript, an AI-powered billing and analytics software, raised a $15M Series A led by Pelion

  • amnis, a Swiss fintech providing an international banking platform, raised $11.1M in funding led by Swisscom Ventures

  • Quantum Industries, a quantum secure communications for critical infrastructure, raised a $10M seed round led by Sparring Capital Partners and Findus Ventures

  • Faks, a French healthcare AI SaaS startup, raised a $6.6M round led by Speedinvest

  • Finnish AI-powered weather tech startup Skyfora raised a $4.5M round led by Ugly Duckling Ventures and LUMO Labs 

IPO / Direct Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

  • Chinese EV maker BYD raised $5.6B in Hong Kong's largest share sale in four years

  • AI cloud computing startup CoreWeave filed for an IPO that could raise $4B at a $35B valuation

  • Japan's JX Metals cut its IPO offering by 6% to $2.9B in what could still be Japan's biggest IPO since 2018

  • Tata Capital, the financial services unit of Indian conglomerate Tata, is seeking to raise $2B at an $11B valuation in its India IPO

  • German's Fresenius is seeking to raise $1.2B in a share and exchangeable-bond sale of its dialysis unit Fresenius Medical Care 

  • China's largest bubble tea chain Mixue soared 43% in its trading debut after its $444M Hong Kong IPO, which was 5,200x oversubscribed

Debt

  • Hong Kong investment firm Gaw Capital Partners is in talks with lenders to refinance $1.3B in loans backing office towers Cityplaza Three and Cityplaza Four

  • PE firm Advent is seeking a ~$300M loan for its LBO of contact lens maker Ginko International's China operations

  • Indian shadow bank Shriram Finance is in talks to raise $250M in bank debt on top of its record of $2B offshore loans sale

  • Australian clinic chain Family Doctor raised $186M in private credit from KKR

Bankruptcy / Restructuring / Distressed

  • Struggling UK engineering firm Wood Group, which is a takeover target for Dubai-based Sidara, tapped advisers to navigate parallel refinancing talks with lenders 

Fundraising

  • GP stakes investor Blue Owl raised $1B for its first Strategic Equity fund, offering anchor investors stakes in both institutional and retail 40 Act funds

  • UK real estate investment firm Octopus plans to raise $950M for its fourth real estate debt fund

Crypto Sum Snapshot

  • The crypto rally fueled by US strategic reserve announcement was short lived

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

Exec’s Picks

Financial Services Recruiting 💼

If you're a junior banker looking for your next career move, check out Litney Partners, a recruiting firm established by Litquidity and Whitney Partners (the oldest purely financial services executive search and consulting firm).

We aim to place strong candidates across private equity, hedge funds, venture capital, growth equity, credit, and investment banking.

We're currently seeking talent for some incredible roles. Head over to Litney Partners to drop your resume / create your profile and we'd love to get in touch!

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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"