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Good Morning,

Apple and Goldman launched a savings account paying 4.15% interest, US manufacturing commitments keep climbing, BlackRock is helping the FDIC sell $114B of SVB and Signature Bank assets, US labor supply returned to pre-pandemic levels, US shareholder activism dropped 30% in Q1, and earnings season is off to a hot start.

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Let’s dive in.

Before The Bell

Markets

• US stocks edged upwards yesterday as investors digested earnings calls for clues on the health of corporate America

• Dollar index rose 0.44% on strong NY manufacturing data after notching its fifth-straight weekly decline

  • Dollar rose to a one-month high against the yen

Earnings

• Charles Schwab missed Q1 revenue estimates but beat on EPS on high interest income and near-record capital inflows as it booked over 1M new brokerage accounts; the firm nonetheless saw a decline in customer deposits (MW)

• What we're watching this week:

  • Today: Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, Western Alliance Bancorp, Netflix, Johnson & Johnson

  • Wednesday: Morgan Stanley, Tesla

  • Thursday: Blackstone, Truist, TSMC

  • Friday: Procter & Gamble

• Full calendar here

Headline Roundup

• US manufacturing commitments doubled to over $200B since Congress subsidies (FT)

• US sold $57B of three-month T-Bills at a 5.1% yield, the highest since 2001, amid debt default risk (FT)

• BlackRock is launching a process to help the FDIC sell $114B of assets from failed SVB and Signature Bank (RT)

• US labor supply returned to pre-pandemic levels (AX)

• US shareholder activism dropped 30% in Q1 to a post-pandemic low (AX)

• Short-seller interest rose 8.7% in Q1 (RT)

• Global corporate defaults surged to highest level since December 2020 in March (FT)

• HFs pile on long dollar bets for first time since early-2022 (BBG)

• Earnings season is off to best start in a decade, with 90% EPS beats (BBG)

• US workers demand at least $76,000 to start a new job (BBG)

• Major US regional banks saw deposit flights in Q1 amid industry turmoil (RT)

• Big investors dumped China equities for US oil shares in recent days (RT)

• Apple/Goldman debuted their savings account offering 4.15% interest (FT)

• Cathie Wood’s Canadian ETF partner Emerge was hit with trading ban (BBG)

• Malaysia is re-evaluating its $3.9B settlement deal with Goldman Sachs (RT)

• SEC chair called for greater scrutiny of HFs after bond turmoil (FT)

• Advanced AI/ChatGPT face new regulatory push in Europe (WSJ)

• EY will cut 5% or ~3k jobs in US (RT)

• Barclays will cut ~100 roles in IBD (BBG)

• Porsche posted a record 18% YoY sales increase in Q1 (RT)

• GM is ditching Apple CarPlay on EV models (WSJ)

• Over one-fourth of Americans above 60 have saved nothing for retirement (BBG)

• People working in office spend 25% more time on career development (BBG)

• Relocation benefits rebound amid RTO (WSJ)

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Deal Flow

M&A / Investments

• CVC Capital Partners and Francisco Partners offered to buy Middle Eastern credit card producer Network International for $2.6B (BBG)

• Belgian manufacturing company Aliaxis’s $2B offer for Finnish plumbing-equipment maker Uponor was rejected by the firm’s biggest shareholder (BBG)

• Mohari Hospitality, the investment firm of PokerStars co-founder Mark Scheinberg, agreed to buy restaurant and nightclub business Tao Group Hospitality in a ~$550M deal (BBG)

• Retailer Lululemon Athletica is exploring a sale of fitness-equipment maker Mirror, which it purchased for $500M in 2020 (BBG)

• Apollo offered to buy UK online retailer THG, sending shares up as much as 47% (BBG)

• Jet lessor AviLease is among suitors competing to buy Standard Chartered Aviation Finance, the aviation finance business of aircraft solutions firm Standard Chartered (BBG)

• Life-sciences company Danaher is no longer considering buying contract manufacturer Catalent (BBG)

VC

• Complement Therapeutics, a preclinical stage biotech company focused on developing novel therapeutics for complement-mediated diseases, raised a ~$79M Series A led by Gimv (PRN)

• Amsterdam-based fintech Factris raised a $54.6M funding line from Aegon Asset Management (PRN)

• Orbit Fab, a startup building a network of refueling stations in orbit, raised a $28.5M Series A led by 8090 Industries (TC)

• Biotech company Caristo Diagnostics raised a $16.3M Series A led by Oxford Science Enterprises (FN)

• Capitola, a digital marketplace for commercial insurance, raised a $15.6M Series A led by Munich Re Ventures (BW)

• Yonder, a UK credit card rewards startup aimed at millennials and Gen Z consumers, raised a $15.4M equity round at a $76M+ valuation led by Northzone and RTP Global (TC)

• Cerbos, an adaptive authorization software company, raised a $7.5M seed round led by Omers Ventures (FN)

• Floodlight, a London-based provider of a ‘smart business account’ for e-commerce SMEs, raised a $6.4M seed round led by Aleph and 83 North (FN)

• Fractal, an infrastructure provider enabling institutions to clear, settle, and margin digital asset trades on-chain, raised $6M in seed financing led by Hack VC (PRN)

• AI-powered provider of private market credit risk solutions Martini.ai raised a $6M seed round led by Neotribe (FN)

• Automated vulnerability fixer Mobb raised a $5.4M seed round led by angel investor Ariel Maislos (PRN)

• Reef, a customer revenue platform that helps companies retain existing customers, raised a $5.2M seed round led by Struck Capital (FN)

• Perci Health, a digital cancer support clinic, raised a $4.2M seed round led by Octopus Ventures (FN)

• Uxuy, a Singapore-based provider of a decentralized trading platform, raised a $3.2M seed round from Bixin Ventures, WaterDrip Capital, KuCoin Ventures, Pionex, and more (FN)

• Portrait Analytics, a developer of a generative AI research platform for investment analysts, raised a $3M pre-seed round led by .406 Ventures (FN)

• Iockr, a provider of a platform for digital identity, consent, and data, raised a $2.5M pre-seed round from Mozilla Ventures, Junction Venture Partners, and others (FN)

• benefitbay, a provider of an end-to-end ICHRA administration platform for brokers and clients, raised a $2.5M seed+ round at a $12.5M valuation led by Right Side Capital and Comeback Capital (FN)

• Loopin, a startup using machine learning to improve morale and productivity in the workplace, raised a $1.9M seed round led by Mercia and Foresight Group (TC)

• Wedio, a Danish peer-to-peer camera renting community, raised a $1.37M seed round from VF Venture and Founderment (FN)

• TicketRev, a live event ticket platform, raised a $1.1M pre-seed round from 500 Startups, Soma Capital, Groove Capital, Techstars, and others (PRN)

Debt

• Luxury goods company LVMH received $3.2B in demand for a $1.1B bond due in 2025 in its first bond sale since 2020 (BBG)

• Chinese electric power company Huaneng Power raised $291M in a bond sale (MS)

Bankruptcy / Restructuring

• Scandinavian Airlines will not use the second tranche of Apollo's $700M DIP term loan in Q2 amid stronger-than-expected liquidity (RT)

• Wedding dress retailer David's Bridal filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and will continue a sale process for the company (AX)

Fundraising

• Minneapolis-based Arthur Ventures raised $470M for two funds: $300M for a venture fund and $170M for a second growth fund (BJ)

• German investment manager Aukera received a $164M commitment for its new Aukera Real Estate debt strategy (IPE)

• UK-based Aviva Ventures raised $186M from its parent insurance firm Aviva (CAM)

Crypto Corner

• SEC sued Bittrex for operating illegally less than a month after the crypto exchange said it was leaving the US (AX)

• FTX celebrity promoters claimed crypto investors cannot sue over accounts (RT)

Exec’s Picks

• Want to chat about social media growth, newsletter strategy, angel investing, Wall Street careers, or something else? Let’s make it happen. Book a call with Litquidity here.

• Financial Times published a good piece breaking down whether or not private markets are “the next shoe to drop.”

• “A system like ChatGPT doesn’t create, it imitates.” Cal Newport shared his thoughts on what kind of mind ChatGPT has in this New Yorker piece.

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