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Good Morning,

US bond markets got rocked in a historic trading week, Bill Ackman called out leveraged ETFs and 0DTE options, Ray Dalio is worried about 'something worse than a recession,' OpenAI's supposed rivals are raising billions with no product, and stocks are somehow making crypto look good amid wild volatility.

Neutral is taking over multi-family real estate development by focusing on the booming health and wellness industry and they're currently fundraising across the capital structure. Schedule a call with their Director of Private Capital and explore an investment in Neutral. Read more below.

Let's dive in.

Before The Bell

As of 4/11/2025 market close.

Click here to learn more about the Litquidity portfolios and subscribe to the strategies on Autopilot.*

Markets

  • US stocks rose in a relief rally on Friday after US temporarily exempted electronics from tariffs

    • S&P gained 8% in its best week since November 2023

    • US stocks suffered one of the most volatile weeks in history

  • US Treasury yields saw the biggest weekly jump since 2001

  • Dollar fell 2.4% last week to hit its lowest since April 2022

  • Gold hit another ATH

Earnings

  • JPMorgan beat Q1 earnings and revenue estimates on strong equity trading driven by stock market volatility and strong IB fees but warned of 'considerable turbulence' for the US economy (CNBC)

  • Morgan Stanley beat Q1 earnings and revenue estimates on record trading driven by market volatility and a deal for Twitter's LBO debt (CNBC)

  • Wells Fargo beat Q1 earnings estimates but missed on revenue and warned of negative economic effects from tariffs (CNBC)

  • BlackRock beat Q1 earnings estimates but missed on revenue as market uncertainty drives client anxiety, though AUM hit a record $11.6T (RT)

  • What we're watching this week:  

    • Today: Goldman Sachs

    • Tuesday: Bank of America, Citigroup

    • Wednesday: Progressive, Travelers

    • Thursday: Blackstone, State Street, Charles Schwab, American Express

  • Full calendar here

Prediction Markets

  • The Masters may have ended but the majors are somehow still the most predictable thing going into the new week.

  • Trade your predictions on a range of events, only on Kalshi. Sign up with code LIT and get a $20 bonus when you trade $100.

Headline Roundup

  • US seeks to chase 90 trade deals in 90 days (RT)

  • US temporarily paused tariffs on electronics (CNBC)

  • China raised US tariffs to 125% (CNBC)

  • US consumer sentiment fell to the lowest since June 2022 (CNBC)

  • Ray Dalio is worried about something worse than recession (CNBC)

  • China weighs opening $500B ETF market to US market makers (RT)

  • Global bond funds saw the biggest weekly outflows since Covid (RT)

  • Global funds tout India as haven in US tariff chaos (BBG)

  • Europe Q1 VC funding stayed flat at $12.6B (CB)

  • Emerging markets paused debt sales after a record Q1 (RT)

  • PE firms are cozying up to Middle East SWFs (BBG)

  • Big banks mentioned market uncertainty ~40 times in earnings calls (BBG)

  • Tariff chaos prompts Canada's Maple 8 to cool on US private markets (FT)

  • Rory McIlroy wins Masters to earn career Grand Slam (ESPN)

A Message from Neutral

Is your portfolio diversified? Consider Wellness Multifamily Real Estate

Wellness real estate development is no longer just a hospitality trend—it's the future of multifamily living. With the market projected to reach $912.6 billion by 2028, growing at an impressive 15.8% annually, according to GWI. You can invest in this rapidly growing niche and contribute to building healthier communities.

Neutral is a multifamily developer leading the way in resident health and wellbeing, integrating sustainable building materials, on-staff doctors, personal training, and organic food deliveries into our multifamily communities. Fast Company named Neutral among the top 3 Most Innovative Real Estate Companies of 2025.

Explore Neutral's offerings across debt and equity on their website at your own pace. You can also schedule an introductory call with Storm Murphy, Neutral’s Director of Private Capital.

Discover Neutral

Deal Flow

M&A / Investments

  • Abu Dhabi's ADNOC is weighing a bid for Aethon Energy Management's natural gas assets, which could be worth ~$9B

  • KKR is nearing a deal to acquire CME and S&P's post-trade services JV OSTTRA for $3B

  • AE Industrial Partners is considering a sale of satellite company York Space Systems at an over $2B valuation

  • PE firm BayPine agreed to acquire clinical trials firm CenExel Clinical Research from  Webster Equity Partners for ~$1.5B

  • German steelmaker Salzgitter ended talks with GP Günter Papenburg and TSR Recycling after their $1.2B bid failed over valuation disagreements

  • UK medical devices firm Niox halted a sale after Keensight Capital withdrew its $452M bid amid market volatility

  • European PE firm CVC is exploring a bid for private credit firm Golub Capital 

VC

  • Safe Superintelligence, the AI startup led by OpenAI co-founder Ilya Sutskever, raised a $2B pre-product round at a $32B valuation led by Greenoaks

  • Thinking Machines Lab, the AI startup of ex-OpenAI CTO Mira Murati, plans to raise a $2B seed / pre-product round at an over $10B valuation led by a16z and with participation from Sequoia

  • Workforce marketplace and management platform Job&Talent raised a $105M Series F at a ~$1.5B valuation from Atomico, BlackRock, DN Capital, and more

  • Parallel Systems, a startup building autonomous electric rail for short-distance freight, raised a $38M Series B co-led by Anthos Capital and Collaborative Fund

  • ConductorAI, a startup building software to cut through government red tape, raised a $15M Series A led by Lux Capital

  • Blue Water Autonomy, a startup building autonomous naval ships, raised a $14M seed round from Eclipse VC, Riot, and Impatient Ventures

  • Klara, a French startup providing digital tools to manage and develop skills among frontline employees, raised an $11M round led by Endeit Capital

  • Fintech Alinea Invest raised a $10.4M Series A led by Play Ventures

  • Second-hand fashion platform Faume raised a $9M seed round led by Amundi

  • Limitless Travel, a UK-based travel company focused on accessible holidays for people with disabilities, raised an $8.5M Series A led by Beringea

IPO / Direct Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

  • Shein secured UK approval for its planned Londong IPO as it awaits approval from China

  • Korean chemicals firm OCI Holdings paused IPO plans for its Malaysian polysilicon unit

Bankruptcy / Restructuring / Distressed

  • Forever 21's bankruptcy creditors are investigating the Sparc-JCPenney tie-up made prior to its $1.6B Chapter 11 filing

  • Argentina's Integra Tec International acquired Telefonica's troubled Peruvian unit for $1M following bankruptcy and regulatory setbacks

  • Volkswagen's truck unit Scania acquired bankrupt Northvolt's heavy industry battery packs

  • EV maker Lucid will acquire select Arizona facilities and assets from bankrupt Nikola

Fundraising

  • Bain Capital is targeting at least $7B for a sixth Asia PE fund and $2.1B for a second Asia special situations fund

  • VC Founders Fund raised $4.6B for its third growth fund

  • New Mountain Capital raised $3B for a continuation fund led by secondaries investor Coller Capital to retain ownership of healthcare marketing firm Real Chemistry

  • Asian impact PE firm ABC Impact raised $600M for its second fund

Crypto Sum Snapshot

  • US stock swings make EM and even Bitcoin look calm (BBG)

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

Exec’s Picks

  • SS&C Intralinks is for the visionaries. The value creators who make global markets thrive. SS&C Intralinks pioneered the first virtual data room (VDR). Today, they power the world's most advanced financial technology ecosystem with bank-grade security to fuel funds, M&A and banking.

    Learn more.

  • Sam Ro wrote a great piece on the varying relevance of the P/E valuation ratio, especially during volatile times.

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.