US stocks closed slightly lower on Friday as investors continued to rotate out of tech stocks and into defensive sectors

EM stocks fell 4.4% in their worst week since early-March

Hong Kong dollar fell to ten-month low

What we're watching this week:  

Full calendar here

For the first time, two Republicans are leading market odds for the 2028 presidential election

Trade event contracts on Polymarket, the world's largest prediction market

AOC calls to break up Apple after chip shortage leads to prices hikes (NYP)

US dominates news as 250th anniversary celebrations approach (FT)

America seeks its McDonald's model for missile making (FT)

US threatens 100% tariff on EU countries who impose new Big Tech tax (RT)

US trade deficit swelled to a 14-month high (RT)

Tech equity sales renew dot-com bubble comparisons (BBG)

US stock market leverage is becoming a growing concern (BBG)

AI rout exposes Wall Street's $270B speculation machine (BBG)

AI energy crunch has investors searching for next IPO winners (BBG)

Hong Kong ECM activity surged to a five-year high (BBG)

Hot streak for continuation vehicles is cooling (AX)

Bond giants target 5Y 'sweet spot' for new Warsh Fed era (BBG)

Hawkish Fed throws down challenge for EM bond rally (BBG)

PIMCO flexes muscles with private placements push (FT)

SpaceX will join the Nasdaq-100 index next week (RT)

Global pension giants rethink investments in UK housing (FT)

Polymarket ARR hit $1B (CNBC)

Zuck asked Meta to explore partnerships with Polymarket and Kalshi (NYT)

US cleared Anthropic's Mythos 5 model for wider use (BBG)

OpenAI delays GPT‑5.6 launch at White House request (RT)

Google limits Meta's use of Gemini AI models (FT)

Cathay Bank's chairman resigned amid governance issues and a fist fight (BBG)

Airlines brace for $127B in extra costs from carbon credit shortage (FT)

China brokerages push for LME membership to expand global metals role (RT)

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GameStop ​pledged to pursue its proposed $56B takeover of ‌eBay 

Williams Cos. is in advanced talks to acquire rival natural gas pipeline operator Momentum Midstream from PE firm EnCap Flatrock Midstream for $5.5B

Magnolia Oil & Gas Corp. emerged as the front-runner to acquire Warburg Pincus and Kayne Anderson-backed WildFire Energy for over $4B

Consumer health company Haleon is bidding for ⁠L Catterton-backed supplements firm Thorne, which could fetch a $4B valuation

Bain Capital and LY Corp. are poised to make a binding bid for Japanese price-comparison site Kakaku to challenge a $3.7B tender offer from EQT

Stonepeak Partners will buy the remainder of a lease of Chicago's parking meters from a group led by Morgan Stanley for $2.5B

French defense group Safran is in exclusive talks to acquire $2.2B-listed sea drone maker Exail Technologies at a 20% premium

A Kenyan court will allow African telecoms giant Vodacom Group to buy a 15% stake in peer Safaricom from Kenya for $2B

Diagnostics firm QuidelOrtho is looking to sell its point-of-care testing unit for $1.5B, with Advent, SK Capital Partners, and Archimed expressing interest

$1.5B-listed Biolife Solutions attracted takeover interest from parties including diagnostics company Repligen

Canadian product testing and certification company CSA Group is exploring a $1.4B sale

Navis Capital Partners is planning a $600M sale of nuts and snacks company Dan-D Foods

EMMA Capital will acquire a 20% stake in UK-based gambling group Entain's CEE business for $485M

China Three Gorges is in talks to buy a German wind portfolio from NEAG Norddeutsche Energie at an over $345M valuation, including debt

PE firms TPG and Leonard Green are exploring a sale of Rory McIlroy-backed golf course operator Troon Golf

Elon Musk won regulatory approval to acquire startup Mesh Optical Technologies, an optical data center communication technology startup led by ex-SpaceX engineers

Walmart heir Lukas Walton will acquire a minority stake in NBA's Chicago Bulls and the United Center

KKR agreed to buy the North America renewables unit of French state-owned utility EDF

General Intuition, an AI lab training models on gameplay clips, raised a $320M Series A at a $2.3B valuation led by Khosla Ventures

Anyverse Dynamics, a general embodied robotics firm, raised a $200M angel round co-led by a fund affiliated with JD.com, C Capital, Hony Capital

Quantifind, an AI-native risk intelligence company, raised a $200M growth investment led by Summit Partners 

PollyGraph AI, a decentralized platform to translate bird language into corporate English, raised a $100M seed round 

Reed Semiconductor, a turnkey power solutions for AI infrastructure, raised a $100M funding round 

Warp, an AI-native payroll, HR and IT automation platform, raised a $60M Series B led by Battery Ventures

Arca Wealth, an AI-native wealth management company, raised a $48.5M Series A led by General Catalyst 

OnyxOZ, a prediction market app, raised a $20M Series A led by Kraken at a $220M valuation

Aseon Labs, a robotics startup building pod-based infrastructure for robotaxis, raised a $10M seed round led by Crane Venture Partners

Askari Defense, a defense tech startup building drone interceptors, raised a $9M seed round led by Builders VC

H&F-backed insurance broker Hub International confidentially filed for an IPO; the firm was valued at $29B last year

KKR-backed German aerospace firm OHB raised $900M in a share sale 

Luxury retailer Saks Global will slash debt by 75% to emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy and rebrand itself as Exemplar Luxury Group

Lenders to bankrupt Indian edtech BYJU'S are seeking a 30% stake in a settlement

Bankrupt sleep away camp owner Simad Holdings won court permission to put its camps up for sale and start tapping $60M in DIP financing to keep operating in the summer

VC Daybreak raised $100M across its second flagship pre-seed and seed fund and a related follow-on and opportunistic fund

Voya Investment Management filed for a debut private credit secondaries fund

Crypto's ETF boom gets $4.5B reality check in brutal week

Bitcoin bottom hunters fear fresh pain after $1.3T rout

Binance founder CZ wants to make US the 'capital of crypto'

CZ surpassed Bill Gates in net worth

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Sam Ro published a cool take on why even long-term investors can't simply ignore bad news.

WSJ sat down with Robinhood co-founder Baiju Bhatt to play a game of 'Luck vs Skill.' In the context of all his career success…

WSJ also published a short primer on how some PE managers are collecting big fees on paper gains.