US stocks pulled back yesterday on AI valuation concerns

US yields fell across the curve

Dollar rose to a three-month high versus euro

Yen hit an eight-month low

Bitcoin briefly fell below $100k, down 20% from its ATH and to its lowest since June

AMD beat Q3 earnings and revenue estimates but only met on gross margin guidance expectations as it seeks to win market share from Nvidia; the firm recently signed a deal with OpenAI (CNBC)

Supermicro missed Q1 earnings and revenue estimates on a 15% drop in revenue as 'design win upgrades' pushed some expected revenue into Q2; the firm issued a disappointing outlook that deepened concerns over its ability to capture AI-driven demand (CNBC)

Uber beat Q3 earnings and revenue estimates in its strongest growth since late-2023 and the largest trip volume increase in history as mobility rose 20% and delivery jumped 25% (CNBC)

Spotify beat Q3 earnings and revenue estimates as MAU climbed 11% and premium subscribers rose 12% on the back of new app features including mixing tools, social messaging, and lossless audio (WSJ)

Pfizer issued a Q3 beat-and-raise as cost reductions offset weaker sales, the firm became the first to reach a voluntary pricing deal with US (CNBC)

Apollo beat Q3 earnings estimates as 23% growth in fee-related earnings to $652M and $68B in net inflows, bolstered by its acquisition of Bridge Investment Group, boosted AUM near $1T (BBG)

Shopify beat Q3 revenue estimates but missed on earnings as higher R&D and marketing costs tied to AI investments pressured margins (BBG)

Hertz beat Q3 earnings and revenue estimates on its first profit in two years boosted by newer fleet investments and expanded car sales; fleet utilization hit 84%, its highest since 2018 (WSJ)

Cava met Q3 earnings estimates but just missed on revenue amid flat traffic and cut its FY forecast as younger diners pull back amid low employment and broader economic uncertainty (CNBC)

Yum Brands beat Q3 earnings and revenue estimates on strong demand for Taco Bell and improved US sales for KFC on cautious but resilient consumer behavior; the firm is exploring a sale of Pizza Hut (CNBC)

What we're watching this week:  

Full calendar here

The US government shutdown is now the longest on record.

US government shutdown is set to become the longest ever (CNBC)

Wall Street CEOs warned of possible stock market drawdowns (BBG)

Palantir CEO blasts Michael Burry as 'batsh*t crazy' for short bets (CNBC)

Sequoia managing partner Roelof Botha will step down (TC)

Goldman sees tremendous backlog of large M&A deals (BBG)

Ares says huge private credit deals are coming to Europe (BBG)

Half of KKR's 2025 PE distributions will come from Asia (RT)

Apollo targets retail-focused firms to back private asset growth (BBG)

a16z paused TxO Fund for underserved founders (TC)

PE investor body sounds alarm over rush of retail money (FT)

Norway's SWF paused ethical divestments to avoid selling Big Tech (FT)

Norway's SWF will vote against Musk's $1T Tesla CEO pay package (WSJ)

US bank regulator sees bank mergers as 'valuable' (RT)

US blocked Nvidia from selling most-advanced chips to China (RT)

Wall Street upstarts shake up ETF world as Big Three lose ground (BBG)

Perplexity accused Amazon of bullying with legal threat over Comet (CNBC)

Google will launch AI chips in space on solar-powered satellites (SMF)

Apple prepares to enter low-cost laptop market for first time (BBG)

IBM will cut thousands of jobs in Q4 amid software focus (RT)

US is looking to ensure big banks have scrapped 'debanking' policies (RT)

Jeffrey Epstein had accounts with Goldman Sachs and HSBC (RT)

Age of first-time homebuyers rose to a record of 40 (BBG)

Zohran Mamdani will become NYC's mayor (BBG) 

Pharma giant Novo Nordisk and Pfizer escalated their bidding war with offers at $10B for obesity drug developer Metsera

Shale explorer Ovintiv agreed to acquire Canadian rival NuVista Energy in a $2.7B cash-and-stock deal

Apollo withdrew its $2.1B take-private bid for pizza chain Papa John's

An affiliate of investment firm Tinicum agreed to acquire engineering firm TriMas' aerospace segment for $1.45B cash

Space exploration firm Intuitive Machines will buy spacecraft maker Lanteris Space Systems from PE firm Advent for $800M in cash-and-stock

Blackstone Life Sciences will invest $700M in biotech Merck to develop a cancer drug

PE fir, TriArtisan Capital agreed to acquire diner chain Denny's in a $620M deal, including debt, at a 52% premium

Brookfield sold a student housing portfolio near University of Georgia and a logistics portfolio in Virginia for $215M in its first real estate secondaries exit

Yum Brands is exploring sale of pizza chain Pizza Hut

Bain Capital is in talks to acquire $1.4B-listed Australian investment manager Perpetual's wealth management unit

State Street is in talks to acquire a stake in an Indian mutual fund

Alleviate Financial Solutions, a debt settlement company, received a $150M growth investment from Sound Point Capital Management

Tala Health, a startup building an AI platform to empower patients, raised a $100M round led by Sofreh Capital

Applied Compute, a startup building an enterprise AI platform, raised $80M in funding from Benchmark, Sequoia, Lux Capital, Elad Gil, and more

German high-performance satellite platform manufacturer Reflex Aerospace raised a $57M Series A led by Human Element

Spanish eldercare startup Qida raised a $42M round led by Quadrille Capital

Kaizen, a startup modernizing government services, raised a $21M Series A led by NEA

Parable, an intelligence layer for enterprise ops, raised a $16.5M seed round led by HOF Capital

Cove Soda, a Canadian functional carbonated soft drink brand, raised a $15M Series A led by Vanterra Ventures

Mine Vision Systems, a startup building a vision-driven mapping and analytics platform for underground mining, raised a $12.5M Series A led by Rockwell Venture Capital

IgniteData, a startup automating the clinical trial data automation process, raised an $11M Series A led by FCA Venture Partners

CUE Labs, a startup building a configuration control plane, raised a $10M round led by Sequoia Capital and OSS Capital

Ruli.ai, a legal intelligence platform, raised a $6M seed round led by Album VC

Compute futures exchange Ornn AI raised a $5.7M seed round led by Crucible Ventures and Vine Ventures

Canadian stablecoin startup Loon raised a $3M pre-seed round led by Version One Ventures

Japan's SBI Shinsei Bank's Japan IPO, which could fetch a $6.5B valuation, is in jeopardy after investors including Citadel, NBIM, Athos Capital, and Maven Investment Partners sued over supposed under-valuation of its 2023 take-private 

EV aircraft maker Beta Technologies raised $1B at a $7.4B valuation in its IPO

Indian investment platform Groww's parent Billionbrains Garage Ventures is set to raise $750M at a $7B valuation in its India IPO

Surgical technology firm UltraGreen.ai is gauging investor interest for a $400M Singapore IPO

HCI-backed insurtech Exzeo raised $168M at a $1.9B valuation in its IPO

UK nuclear power station Sizewell C raised $6.5B in debt from 13 banks 

Cipher Mining plans to raise $1.4B in a private debt offering to finance construction of a data center following a lease deal with AWS

Boyu Capital is in talks for a $1.4B bank loan to back its $2.4B acquisition of a 60% stake in Starbucks' China business

Kenya will sell $1.3B in bonds to settle debts owed to road contractors

Cornell University is seeking to raise $1B in a taxable bond sale

New York Life Insurance will purchase $750M worth of BNPL fintech Affirm's installment loans

Turkish Airlines secured a $412M financing deal from Bank Of China

Japanese electronics maker Nidec entered into a $3.9B commitment line agreement with main creditor banks MUFG and SMBC weeks after accounting issues were revealed

Bankrupt auto parts company First Brands sued its founder/CEO Patrick James for theft and fraud

Blackstone-backed troubled food sanitation facilities cleaner Fortrex reached an out-of-court restructuring to hand control to lenders

Brazilian carrier Azul secured court approval for a $650M financing plan which will see bondholders become majority shareholders

Indian investment ChrysCapital Management raised $2.2B for its tenth PE fund targeting healthcare and industrials companies

TPG raised $2.1B for a CRE credit fund

Energy secondaries investor Melange Capital Partners raised $430M for its debut fund

Japan's crypto players jostle for market share on regulatory easing hopes

Crypto exchange Gemini is preparing to enter prediction markets

FX veterans seek to rebuild crypto in Wall Street's image

The AI for Business & Finance Certificate Program brings you 8 weeks of insights from leaders at BlackRock, OpenAI, and Morgan Stanley + 1:1 face time with Columbia Exec Ed Faculty. Get $300 off with code LITQUIDITY before Nov. 10. Save your seat.

I conducted a little survey of my audience to gauge the sentiment around the NYC mayor elections. See the responses.

Callie Cox published yet another banger: how to invest without going insane.