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Good morning,

The S&P 500 had its 69th record close of the year yesterday, which probably confirms that we live in a simulation. Plus NASA hired 24 theologians to discuss how people will react to the discovery of aliens. Is an alien invasion bullish for stocks? We have no idea, but we think there's a good chance J Pow would fire up his printer in such an event. Speaking of aliens, the US tax code is giving them a reason to invade us with the IRS' backwards tax code that states people should report their income from illegal activities and stolen property (see meme cleanser below for more details lmao). 

Light deal flow today. So hopefully y'all can zip through this in 2 mins or less.

Let's dive in.

Before The Bell

To see the LitCap Yolo Fund's portfolio holdings, download the Iris Social Stock app here and give Litquidity a follow. If you want to learn more about crypto trading strategies and the world of DeFi, check out our Foot Guns newsletter.

Markets

• Major stock indexes rose yesterday, with the S&P 500 closing at a record high for the 69th (nice) time this year

• Continually rising covid cases were shrugged off by tech and energy stocks, both of which led Monday’s gains, but travel stocks and airlines fell due to the omicron cases and staffing shortages

• Investors will wait to see if the final trading days of the year bring a continued Santa Claus rally with the S&P already having returned 27%+ this year

• In China, traders digested new curbs from Beijing on certain offshore listings and a looming interest payment deadline for China Evergrande Group

• Oil pushed higher amid bets that economic reopening faces temporary setback from the omicron outbreak

Earnings

• Nothing major today

• Full calendar here

Headline Roundup

• CDC shortens recommended Covid isolation time from 10 days to 5 days (CNBC)

• Fauci says cases of omicron will likely continue to surge (CNBC)

• E11even buys NFT Bored Ape #11 for 99 ETH (~$400k) (PRN)

• Leveraged finance deals hit record in 2021 as low rates boost M&A (SA)

• Goldman to mandate booster and twice weekly testing (CNN)

• Expect more shipping chaos as omicron forces transport workers to quit (BBG)

• Arizona Senate candidate Blake Masters offering NFTs to donors who give $5,800 to campaign (AXIOS)

• Walmart facing scrutiny over its handling of business involving Chinese region Xinjiang’s forced-labor and human-rights concerns (WSJ)

• Trump seeking dismissal of suit accusing him of inciting Jan. 6 riot (BBG)

• US airlines cancel another 1,000 flights due to omicron-induced staffing shortages and snow storms (BBG)

• NASA hires 24 theologians to research how mankind would react to the discovery of alien life (NYP)

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Deal Flow

M&A

• Financial data supplied FactSet agreed to buy securities-identification data firm Cusip from S&P Global Inc. for $1.9B in cash (BBG)

• News Corp agreed to acquire the Base Chemicals business from S&P Global and IHS Markit (BW)

VC

• Recruiting platform built around an AI assistant Paradox raised a $200M Series C led by Stripes, Sapphire, and Thoma Bravo (PRN)

• Indian neobank Jupiter raised an $86M Series C led by Tiger Global, QED, and Sequoia Capital India (TC)

• Focal Systems, a retail automation startup, raised a $25.8M Series B led by Point72 (PRN)

IPO / Direct Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

• Activist investor hedge fund Starboard bought a 6.5% stake in domain registrar GoDaddy for ~$800M (WSJ)

• Chinese Q&A site Zhihu is said to be considering Hong Kong IPO (BBG)

SPAC

• Temasek-backed Vertex becomes first Singaporean SPAC to gain eligibility to list from local exchange (BBG)

House Keeping Items

• CALLING ALL ABSOLUTE UNITS: we've got a handful of 2XL Litquidity Bond Fleece Vests left in stock. Big fellas can cop em right here.

• Follow us on Twitter and Instagram so you can stay on top of our sh*tposts outside of this newsletter.

• If you're a brand looking to advertise on this newsletter, fill out this form and we'll circle back with y'all in the new year.

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 50+ 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.

If you're looking to hire candidates and want to post a job, all you have to do is hit "+ Hire Talent" on the top right of the job board. If you want the role to be featured on Exec Sum, check out our "Featured" and "Premium" tiers.

Meme Cleanser

👀  If you're an accredited investor or qualified purchaser and want access to proprietary early-stage venture deal flow from the LitCap team, fill out this survey. Got some exciting deals coming up in Q1'22. Preference will be given to those who are most involved with our platform (subscribed to Exec Sum, our Foot Guns newsletter, and actively opening the emails).

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