US stocks gained yesterday to recover some losses from last week's AI selloff

Gold hit a new ATH

Jefferies beat Q3 profit estimates for its best Q3 ever on record advisory fees and a rebound in dealmaking amid strong M&A momentum, robust trading, and optimism for capital markets strength despite policy volatility (BBG)

Carnival beat Q3 earnings and revenue estimates on its tenth-straight record quarter driven by strong booking trends, higher onboard spending, and rising ticket prices; the firm also raised FY profit guidance for the third-straight time on record customer deposits and robust demand (BBG)

What we're watching this week:  

Full calendar here

Bad Bunny is set to headline the Super Bowl half-time show.

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Israel agreed to 20-point plan to end Gaza war (BBG)

JPMorgan and Goldman will advise on EA's record LBO (BBG)

US will impose 100% tariffs on movies made outside the country (RT)

US gold reserves hit $1T (BBG)

PE firms and SWFs are reviving large LBOs (RT)

Private credit could amplify shock in next crisis (BBG)

Hedge funds logged their biggest Asia EM stocks selloff in five months (RT)

Investors worry that the stock market rally is on borrowed time (WSJ)

Investors pile into funds betting on elusive market volatility (BBG)

Global deal values topped $1T in a Q3 for the second time ever (BBG)

US junk bond issuance is expected to see its fifth-busiest month ever (BBG)

Convertible bond deals surged to a five-year high (RT)

China deployed $70B in new investment stimulus (BBG)

Canada's CPPIB is not chasing US stocks on concentration risks (BBG)

Deloitte UK's revenues fell for the first time in 15 years (FT)

Switzerland and UBS could compromise on capital rules (RT)

HSBC chair Mark Tucker will exit (FT)

Barrick and Newmont both named new CEOs (FT)

Bridgewater picked five finalists for global talent hiring program (RT)

Charlie Javice was sentenced to seven years for JPMorgan fraud (FT)

New York offices are being converted to housing by most since 2008 (FT)

PE firms Silver Lake and Affinity Partners and Saudi's SWF PIF agreed to take-private video game maker Electronic Arts for $55B at a 25% premium in the largest LBO ever

Danish biotech Genmab agreed to acquire Dutch cancer drugmaker Merus for $8B cash at a 40% premium

Activist hedge fund Elliott is exploring a $4B sale of its UK-based Ark Data Centres

Blackstone agreed to acquire a portfolio of warehouses in France from CRE firms Proudreed for $2.3B

French energy company TotalEnergies is weighing a sale of its 20% stake in India’s Adani Green Energy that it acquired for $2B in 2021

Australia pension Aware Super has bought a 49% stake in a new venture with Australian real estate firm Goodman Group to invest in a $1.3B package of US industrial properties

KKR agreed to acquire a 50% stake in TotalEnergies' North American solar business in at a $1.25B valuation, including debt

Advent paid $1.1B in breakup fees for the failed acquisition of contact-lens maker Ginko from EQT

Chinese tech giant Alibaba is in talks to buy a partial stake in Hong Kong office One Causeway Bay for $900M

KKR agreed to a minority stake in Stirling Square-backed Swedish construction industry software firm Infobric at a $702M valuation

South Africa's top development finance firm Industrial Development Corp. submitted an offer to acquire control of global steelmaker ArcelorMittal's South Africa business for $490M, including debt

Hines Global Income Trust agreed to acquire Westside, LA mixed-use property The Runway from Invesco Real Estate for $428M

UChicago will sell its Center for Research in Security Prices for $375M to shore up its endowment

Brookfield-backed Dubai school operator GEMS Education submitted an offer for Saudi Arabia’s Ejialuna Educational Co.

PE-backed accounting and advisory firm Grant Thornton agreed to acquire sister firms in France, Spain and Belgium

TotalEnergies will purchase a 49% stake in Continental Resources' upstream gas fields in Oklahoma

Verizon is in talks to acquire some of EchoStar's wireless spectrum

Black Forest Labs, a German AI image partner for Meta, is in talk to raise $200M-$300M at a $4B valuation

Rebellions, a Korean AI chip startup, raised a $250M round at a $1.4B valuation led by Arm Holdings and Samsung Ventures

Flying Tulip, a full‑stack onchain exchange, raised $200M from Brevan Howard Digital, Susquehanna Crypto, CoinFund, and more

Alvys, a cloud TMS startup using AI for freight operations, raised a $40M Series B led by RTP Global

LatAm legal AI startup Enter raised a $35M Series A co-led by Founders Fund and Sequoia

Yup, a Southeast Asian digital bank, raised a $32M Series C-1 led by Moore Strategic Ventures

Sustainable aviation fuel startup OXCCU raised a $28M Series B from new Orlen VC, Safran Corporate Ventures, and more

Paid, a value-based billing platform for AI agents, raised a $21.6M seed round led by Lightspeed

Open-source data platform Polars raised a $21M Series A led by Accel

Restaurant POS startup Petpooja raised a $15.5M Series C led by Dharana Capital

Legal-AI startup Lexroom.ai raised a $19M Series A led by Base10 Partners

Online education platform MyEdSpace raised a $15M Series A led by White Star Capital

Gain, an autonomous procurement AI startup, raised a $12M seed round led by The Garage

AI finance automation startup Maximor raised a $9M seed round led by Foundation Capital

Anything, an AI platform that turns natural language prompts into production-ready apps, raised an $11M Series A at a $100M valuation led by Footwork

Blykalla, a Swedish nuclear reactor maker, raised $5M in a funding round co-led by Oklo

$230B-listed UK-based biotech giant AstraZeneca is planning a full US listing

Hellman & Friedman-backed security services firm Verisure is seeking to raise $3.6B at a $16.3B valuation in its Sweden IPO

Zijin Gold International, the international unit of China's biggest miner, will debut in Hong Kong after raising $3.2Bin the world's largest IPO since May

Tata Capital, the financial services unit of Indian conglomerate Tata, is seeking to raise $1.7B in what may be India’s largest listing this year

Prosthetics maker Ottobock is seeking to raise $823M at a $5B valuation in a Germany IPO

BDT & MSD Partners-backed washer maker Alliance Laundry is seeking to raise $750M at a $4.3B valuation in its US IPO

Rick Perry's energy REIT Fermi is seeking to raise $715M at a $13B valuation in an upsized IPO

Finland's national postal service operator Posti Group is seeking to raise $100M at a $354M valuation in a Finland IPO

Activist hedge fund Irenic Capital Management built a 2% stake in $4.7B-listed financial reporting software maker Workiva for $94M

EV aircraft firm Beta Technologies filed for a US IPO

Jennifer Garner's organic baby food company Once Upon a Farm filed for an IPO

Insurtech Exzeo filed for an IPO 

Automated digital wealth management firm Wealthfront filed for an IPO

Chinese autonomous driving developer Momenta is considering shifting its IPO from New York to Hong Kong 

Etsy will move its stock listing from Nasdaq to NYSE

JPMorgan will lend $20B for Silver Lake, Affinity Partners, and PIF's $55B LBO of Electronic Arts in what is the largest debt commitment ever by a single bank

French lender BNP Paribas is planning two SRTs linked to $5.3B of corporate loans and leasing contracts

Spain’s fourth-largest lender Banco Sabadell is selling at least six portfolios of soured loans worth $510M

Canadian steelmaker Algoma Steel raised $359M in loans from Canada

Air India raised $215M from StanChart and Bank of India for a refinancing

Indian minerals conglomerate Vedanta Resources is planning a dollar bond sale to repay private credit

UK car maker Jaguar Land Rover will start production again after it received $4.7B in loan commitments to grapple with the crippling cyberattack

Auto parts maker First Brands Group filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy after lender scrutiny

A group of international creditors including VR Capital, Farallon Capital, and Morgan Stanley Investment Management began restricted talks with Ethiopia to restructure a $1B defaulted bond

Plant-based meat producer Beyond Meat offered creditors a debt-for-equity swap to eliminate $800M of outstanding notes

Chipmaker Wolfspeed exited Chapter 11 bankruptcy after cutting total debt by 70% and lowering annual interest expenses by 60%

UK retail-focused PE firm Modella Capital bought about half of teen budget jewelry retailer Claire's UK stores out of bankruptcy

Brazilian waste management company Ambipar is working with Brazil Seneca Evercore to work on a debt restructuring deal

Apollo-owned Italian packaging firm Reno de Medici is working with an adviser on a cost-cutting plan as it grapples with cash burn

Lower MM European investment firm Verdane raised $2.3B for its seventh growth fund

Nordic B2B software investor Monterro raised $2B for two new funds

PE firm Avenue Capital raised $1B for a sports-focused fund

National security-focused growth equity firm Razor's Edge raised $560M for its fourth fund

UK VC Evantic Capital raised $400M for its debut tech fund

Indian PE firm Kadaara Capital raised $300M for its first multi-asset continuation vehicle for eyewear IPO-bound business Lenskart Solutions and Care Health Insurance

Chinese PE firm GL Capital raised $200M for a continuation vehicle for SciClone Pharmaceuticals led by SWF ADIA

UK multi-strat Eisler Capital will wind down and return capital after weak returns and ballooning costs

US and eurozone central bankers are divided over stablecoins

Swift will launch a blockchain in response to rise of stablecoins

BlackRock’s Bitcoin ETF surpassed Deribit as top Bitcoin options venue

Vanguard is weighing whether to allow trading of crypto ETFs

SEC halted trading of advertising firm QMMM after shares surged 960% on a crypto treasury plan

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Ben Carlson wrote a great piece explaining how bear markets work. Highly relevant with investors everywhere worrying about a bubble.

Blueflame × Litquidity Play & Pour #2 – Wednesday, October 15, NYC

Lit, Blueflame, and our network of PE professionals are getting together at T Squared Social to test our skills on a multi-sport golf simulator. It's going to be an evening of some meaningful conversations and fun rivalries. You should definitely join. RSVP here.