US stocks rose yesterday as the Treasury announced expanded bond buybacks in an extraordinary intervention 

China's CSI 300 index again turned negative YTD

US yields slid from multi-decade highs

Korea 3Y-10Y yield curve widened to the highest in five years

Gold surged 4% in its best day in six months

Kazakh tenge is up 10% YTD versus dollar as Europe and Asia's best-performing currency amid double-digit rates

Target issued a Q2 beat-and-raise as its turnaround picked up steam with a boost from tariff repayments and better sales trends (CNBC)

TJX issued a Q2 beat-and-raise as budget conscious shoppers flock to its discount stores, though operational missteps hurt sales last quarter (WSJ)

What we're watching this week:  

Full calendar here

Need my intern to explain to me how the Treasury's bond market intervention will impact the Fed's short-term rate policy

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Trump says bond market is "unfair" (CNBC)

Bessent embraces role as America's bond trader in chief (WSJ)

US government debt topped $40T (CNBC)

Iran threatened to strike US bases in Europe if Trump escalates war (FT)

US threatened economic consequences for nations that support Iran (CNBC)

Passive-investing boom is making life harder for stock pickers (BBG)

Fund managers are hedging FX risks by the most in three years (BBG)

Singapore unveiled tax cuts for asset managers amid global talent war (FT) 

Banks slashed cost of leveraged bets on SK Hynix Korean shares (BBG)

Short sellers have made $2B shorting nuclear reactor stocks (FT)

Moderna soared 175% on cancer vaccine success as shorts lose $5B (BBG)

India bared a JPMorgan unit over stock market manipulation (BBG)

Quant giant HRT posted a record $11.4B windfall in Q2 (FT) 

Cantor will let hedge fund clients place big bets on prediction markets (WSJ)

Two Sigma lost a 'major investor' over co-founders' feud (BBG)

Travis Kalanick kicked off another round of VC bashing (TC)

Ex-Meta exec testified that Zuck encouraged growth over child safety (RT)

Women at L3Harris shared concerns about CEO years before firing (WSJ)

Travis Kelce partnered with Publicis to tame college NIL space (WSJ)

Bill Ackman will donate $400M to build the "world's greatest brain institute" as his daughter recovers from a scary brain hemorrhage (BBG)

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$43B-listed Italian lender BMPS is reviewing strategic alternatives to Intesa Sanpaolo takeover bid that may include offers for Banco BPM and Banca Generali

SpaceX reportedly approached AI coding startup Cognition about an acquisition; the startup is in funding talks for a $40B valuation 

Brazilian meat packing giant JBS offered to buy the reaming 18% of shares of $7.5B-listed US chicken producer Pilgrim's Pride at market price

Activist Oasis Management, which owns 19% of Japanese price comparison website Kakaku.com, asked the firm to withdraw support for EQT's $3.7B buyout bid on valuation concerns

Strategic Value Partners is considering a $3B sale of  Europe's APCOA Parking Holdings

German telecom group Freenet is nearing a deal to buy out minority investors in its TV streaming platform Waipu.TV at a $1.7B valuation after abandoning IPO plans

Bain Capital-owned Proterial is considering selling its wire, cable and automotive parts unit Proterial Cable Solutions for up to $1.3B

​Ridgeview Partners agreed to acquire UK card dealership software firm Pinewood Technologies for $740M at a 43% premium

Charlesbank Capital Partners is in advanced talks to acquire a stake in law firm WSHB in a $700M deal

German insurer Munich Re will acquire Israeli cyber insurtech At-Bay for $575M

EQT is considering a $500M sale of English language education businesses ILA Vietnam and Vietnam-USA Society English Centers

KKR emerged as the preferred bidder to buy a minority stake in Malaysian healthcare firm ‌Avisena Healthcare at a $370M valuation

SJ Holding's second attempt to take South Korea's Golfzon Holdings private at a $210M valuation is facing renewed resistance from minority shareholder Terton Capital

KKR will buy a 6% stake in Indian ticketing and entertainment platform BookMyShow for $40M-$50M

EQT bought a majority stake in Australia's leading rugby league club Melbourne Storm

Aussie gold miner Evolution Mining will consider more acquisitions and hasn't ruled out buying assets from Northern Star Resources

Hypersonic missile startup Castelion raised a $1B Series C at a $13B valuation led by Carlyle, JPMorgan's Strategic Investment Group, and a16z

AI chip startup Fractile is in advanced talks to raise a $600M round at a $6.5B valuation led by Lightspeed and Redpoint

ALSO, the micro-mobility startup spun out of Rivian, raised a $150M Series D led by Prysm Capital

Rillet, an AI accounting startup, raised a $100M Series C at a $1B valuation led by ICONIQ

Navi Technologies, an Indian super fintech, raised $100M at a $1.3B valuation from Prosus 

Veeda AI, a startup building world models for physical AI, raised a $90M seed round led by Khosla Ventures and Radical Ventures

Relativity Networks, a hollow-core fiber startup, raised $22M in SAFE note funding from Rhapsody Venture Partners, Bell Ventures, Faster Than Glass, and others 

Semiconductor firm Marvell Technology agreed to give Google rights to buy $12.2B of shares in exchange for purchasing chips

Italian copper firm KME Group picked banks for a $1.2B Germany IPO of its German specialty copper unit Cunova

US digital infrastructure firm SDC Capital Partners plans to raise $1B in a Singapore REIT listing

Chinese humanoid robot maker Unitree Robotics surged 460% in its trading debut after raising $900M in a China IPO

Tiger Global-backed Indian stock trading platform Upstox is in talks for a $400M India IPO

Defense tech firm Lyntris fell 14% in its trading debut after raising $297M for a $1.6B market cap in a downsized IPO

Pakistani fresh produce company SE Fruits and Vegetable plans to raise $7M in a Pakistan IPO

Chinese chip giant YMTC completed pre-IPO regulatory work 

AiMOGA, the robotics unit of China's largest auto exporter Chery Automobile, is preparing ​for an IPO

Dutch AI cloud provider Nebius plans to raise $4.5B in a private convertible bond offering

Alphabet raised $3.9B in a debut Aussie bond sale

Goldman Sachs is sounding out investor interest for a $1.15B junk bond to fund construction of a Blue Owl-backed data center leased to CoreWeave 

UK fintech Revolut will let founder Nik Storonsky borrow up to $250M against his stake

BlackRock's HPS and Oaktree took control of defaulted Hollywood studios supplier MBS Group, wiping out $900M of debt

French PE firm Ardian raised $5.8B for its fifth private credit fund

Jefferies Credit Partners is seeking to raise $1.2B for a private credit secondaries fund

Singapore-based Academic Capital Partners is seeking to raise $300M for its debut fund to acquire school assets in Asia and the Middle East

US regulators are working to bring Hyperliquid into the country

OKX barred Claude use in Hong Kong after suspension

Bitcoin short squeeze ripples across a battered crypto complex

Bill Ackman posted a heartfelt update on his daughter's recovery from a scary brain injury, which also motivated him to fund and develop the world's best brain research institute. Read his message here.

If you don't follow bond markets too closely but want to make sense of the Treasury's unusual bond market intervention, check out this short WSJ piece.

This one's somewhat unrelated to this week's news but did you know that BofA CEO Brian Moynihan uses earnings calls as an excuse to improve his vocabulary and tease analysts??