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Good Morning,

Stocks bounced back after the global financial sector did not collapse, bank stocks recovered some of their recent losses, CPI growth slowed to 6% in February, Moody's outlook on the US banking system turned negative, Argentina inflation passed 100%, TikTok may split from ByteDance, OpenAI unveiled GPT-4, Meta scrapped its NFT plans, and AMC announced a reverse stock split.

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Let's dive in.

Before The Bell

Markets

• US stocks bounced back yesterday on in-line inflation data and easing fears of contagion following SVB's collapse 

  • Bank stocks jumped to recover some losses from the recent sell-off

  • Traders now see a 75% chance of a 25 bps rate hike next week

  • Futures markets priced in a 4.18% terminal fed funds rate in December, down from over 5% last week (implying ~2 rate cuts)

• The pan-European Stoxx 600 also recovered 1.45% 

• Oil prices fell over 4% to a three-month low

• Bitcoin hit a nine-month high

Earnings

• Lennar beat Q1 EPS and revenue estimates as high property prices helped offset difficulties incurred by rising material costs and a labor crunch; shortages are keeping housing demand high despite rising rates (RT)

• What we're watching this week:  

  • Today: Adobe

  • Thursday: FedEx, Dollar General

• Full calendar here

Headline Roundup

• CPI growth slowed to 6% YoY in February (WSJ)

• Short-term inflation expectations retreated to a near two-year low (RT)

• US prosecutors are investigating SVB's collapse (RT)

• Moody’s cut outlook on US banking system to negative (CNBC)

• SVB is 'conducting business as usual' (RT)

• KPMG stands by its audits of SVB and Signature Bank (FT)

• Short sellers made $2.3B profit amid regional banks selloff (BBG)

• Argentina inflation crossed 100% for first time since 1991 (RT)

• TikTok may split from ByteDance if deal with US fails (BBG)

• Ken Griffin says US capitalism is ‘breaking down before our eyes’ (FT)

• OpenAI unveiled GPT-4 (TC)

• HSBC cuts base pay for promoted bankers by 25% before UK reform (BBG)

• SVB execs sold $84M in stock over past two years (CNBC)

• Meta will cut 10k jobs and close 5k open roles in second layoff move (BBG)

• William Blair is cutting up to 100 staff (EFC)

• Tyson Foods will cut 1.7k workers (CNBC)

• California court ruled that Uber/Lyft drivers are independent contractors (NYT)

• Credit Suisse finds material weaknesses in financial reporting (WSJ)

• MJ's ‘Last Dance’ sneakers are going up for auction, with an estimated $2M-$4M sale price (CNBC)

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Deal Flow

M&A / Investments

• The Surface Transportation Board will announce today whether it will approve or reject railway company Canada Pacific’s $31B deal to buy US peer Kansas City Southern (RT)

• Apollo agreed to buy and take private specialty chemicals distributor Univar Solutions in an $8.1B deal (RT)

• Blackstone agreed to buy event software company Cvent in a $4.6B deal (BBG)

• US semiconductor manufacturer Infinera is exploring options including a sale; it has a market value of $1.6B (RT)

• A consortium led by PE firm Symphony Technology agreed to buy and take private SurveyMonkey owner Momentive Global in a $1.5B deal (RT)

• Media investment firm International Media Invest is in talks to buy publishing company Editis for ~$748M (BBG)

• The FDIC began soliciting interest from potential buyers for New York-based lender Signature Bank, which was seized by the government on Sunday (RT)

• Citadel bought a 5.3% stake in Western Alliance Bancorporation (RT)

• Grocer Albertsons plans to divest some of the stores it owns and some owned by peer Kroger to obtain the regulatory clearance needed to go ahead with the merger of the two firms (RT)

• Italian gas distributor Italgas entered exclusive talks to buy stakes in Italian water companies owned by French utilities firm Veolia (RT)

• Africa-focused fintech Chipper Cash is weighing strategic options including a sale or seeking new investors (BBG)

• Telecom Italia (TIM) is expected to ask Italian state lender CDP and Australian fund Macquarie to improve their bid for TIM’s fixed network assets, as it regards the offer as too low (RT)

VC

• AI Startup Adept raised a $350M Series B led by General Catalyst and Spark Capital (RT)

• Switch Therapeutics, a startup using nucleic acid nanotechnology to treat disease, raised a $52M Series A led by Insight Partners and UCB Ventures (BW)

• Cloud security startup Mitiga raised a $45M Series A at a $100M+ valuation led by ClearSky Security (TC)

• French biotech startup AlgoTx raised a $21.5M Series B led by Relyens Innovation Sante and Turenne Capital (BW)

• Indonesian used car financing startup Broom raised a $10M pre-Series A led by Openspace Ventures (TC)

• Pitchly, a no-code data enablement company, raised a $7M Series A led by Homegrown Capital (BW)

• Ag5, a SaaS platform that helps companies map and track employees’ skills, raised a $6M round from Peak, Headline, and Acadian Ventures (PRN)

• Mayan, a startup building an ads optimization platform for Amazon sellers, raised a $5M Series A led by Bright Pixel (PRN)

• Cloud-based strategic planning software startup Elate raised a $4.9M Series A led by WestWave Capital (PRN)

• Upduo, a peer-to-peer learning platform for data-driven teams, raised a $4M seed round led by Impact Venture Capital (BW)

• D2C pet care startup Bundle x Joy raised a $1M seed round led by Leap Venture Studio (TC)

IPO / Direct Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

• Credit Suisse expects a 2025 IPO for First Boston, its investment banking spinoff (BBG)

• AMC investors approved a reverse stock split and the conversion of preferred APE shares into common stock to help the theater chain continue raising cash and reduce debt (CNBC)

Debt

• PE giants including Apollo, Blackstone, KKR, Ares and Carlyle are interested in a part of SVB's $74B loan book (BBG)

Bankruptcy / Restructuring

• SVB creditors including Centerbridge, Davidson Kempner and PIMCO formed a group and hired PJT Partners in anticipation of potential bankruptcy (WSJ)

Fundraising

• VC firm General Catalyst is looking to raise $5B+ for its next flagship fund (BBG)

• Nigeria launched a $672M fund to support young founders in tech and creative sectors (RT)

• France-based Natixis Investment Managers raised $170M for its $500M Mirova Gigaton fund to target clean energy transition projects in developing regions (FE)

• Dutch asset manager Robeco raised $140M for a second closed-ended private debt fund targeting sustainable businesses in core European markets (FE)

• Flat6Labs, an Egypt-based seed-stage accelerator, raised $95M for its Africa Seed Fund (TC)

• German investment firm Rethink Ventures raised a $53.7M specialist fund focused on mobility, automotive and logistics (TC)

Crypto Corner

• Binance will halt pound transfers one month after halting dollar transfers (RT)

• Meta is scrapping its Facebook/Instagram NFT plans (TV)

• Binance will convert $1B worth of BUSD stablecoin to Bitcoin, Ether, BNB and other tokens (CD)

• UK bank NatWest will limit customers’ crypto payments (FT)

• NY regulator said Signature Bank's closure had 'nothing to do with crypto' (RT)

• Signature Bank faced criminal probe ahead of firm's collapse (BBG)

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