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Good Morning,

Cathie Wood sold Nvidia at the literal bottom, a US debt deal is starting to take shape, Treasury cash levels continue to dwindle, JPMorgan plans to lay off 1,000 First Republic employees, TikTok is testing an AI chat bot, and OpenAI is offering $100,000 grants for ideas on AI governance.

Let’s dive in.

Before The Bell

Markets

• Tech stocks rallied as Nvidia’s quarterly results sparked investor optimism

  • Both the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 had strong green days

• AI cryptocurrencies jumped after Nvidia reported booming AI demand

Earnings

• Royal Bank of Canada missed Q2 earnings estimates after net income declined by 14% YoY fueled by the bank making higher provisions for borrowers falling behind on repayments (RT)

• Best Buy beat Q1 earnings but is forecasting decreasing sales for the rest of the year as consumers forego high-end electronics purchases (CNBC)

• Dollar Tree missed Q1 earnings after seeing its gross margins decline by 3.4% to 30.5% as shoppers focus on essential items; shares plunged 12% (CNBC)

• Ralph Lauren beat Q1 expectations with positive sales growth across all regions thanks to resilient consumers and depth of products providing flexibility (RL)

• Costco missed Q3 earnings, with revenue only increasing 2% YoY, due to slowed consumer spending on bulk items in the face of elevated inflation (ST)

• What we're watching this week:

  • Today: Big Lots

• Full calendar here

Headline Roundup

• Emerging US debt deal would raise limit, cap spending for two years (BBG)

• US Q1 GDP growth was revised upwards to 1.3%, but GDI continued to shrink (BBG)

• Nvidia shares surge to record close with 24% rally (CNBC)

• Cathie Wood’s ARKK dumped Nvidia stock before $560B surge (BBG)

• Treasury’s cash plunges below $50B as debt-limit fight drags on (BBG)

• US labor market resilient; declining profits a red flag for economy (RT)

• Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Ford CEO Jim Farley to host Twitter Spaces talk about EVs Thursday (CNBC)

• JPMorgan tells 1k First Republic employees that they’ll lose their jobs (BBG)

• Boeing starts deliveries of reworked 737s, promises pricing discipline (RT)

• Pressure is on US to hit back at China’s ban on Micron (WSJ)

• TikTok is testing its own AI chatbot called Tako (WSJ)

• Dish in talks to sell wireless plans through Amazon (WSJ)

• As borrowing costs rise, big companies get the upper hand (WSJ)

• OpenAI offers $100k grants for ideas on AI governance (RT)

• Vietnam's VinFast recalls first batch of US-bound EVs over safety risk (RT)

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Deal Flow

M&A / Investments

• A consortium led by Australian billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes is in final discussions to acquire the collapsed Sun Cable, a $19.6B project to build Australia’s largest solar farm that would transmit power to Singapore (BBG)

• The owners of UK supermarket Asda and petrol stations company EG Group are expected to announce a $12.6B merger of their British operations as early as Friday (RT)

• US company Viasat has won unconditional EU approval to acquire rival British satellite company Inmarsat for $7.3B (RT)

• The EU has approved UBS’s ~$3.25B takeover of Credit Suisse brokered by the Swiss government (BBG)

• Northern Chinese city Shenyang is weighing a $2.3B takeover of Brilliance Automotive Group Holdings (BBG)

• Stratasys agreed to acquire Desktop Metal in an all-stock deal that would create a combined company worth $1.8B (BBG)

• Online travel agency Booking Holdings is expected to receive an EU antitrust warning about its $1.75B bid for Sweden-based Etraveli Group (RT)

• Investment firm Permira has acquired the majority of Gruppo Florence in a deal that values the Italian luxury clothes manufacturing hub at $1.1B (RT)

• JV partner Ørste has purchased Eversource Energy’s 50% stake in a wind development site off the coast of Massachusetts for $625M cash (RT)

• PE firms Boyu Capital, Hillhouse Capital and BPEA EQT are bidders competing for Longreach Group’s HK medical device maker Quasar, which has a valuation of at least $600M (RT)

• Lufthansa will take a 41% stake in ITA Airways for a $358M capital increase paid directly to the airline company (RT)

• Billionaire Carlos Slim’s Grupo Carso is buying a 49.9% minority stake in Talos Energy’s Mexico unit for $125M (BBG)

• Glencore-backed agriculture trader Viterra is in talks to merge with Bunge, one of the world’s largest crop merchants (BBG)

• Australian bus operator Ventura Group is exploring a potential sale (BBG)

VC

• IQ Fiber, a Jacksonville-based residential fiber-optic ISP, raised $150M (FN)

• Tools for Humanity, the team behind Sam Altman’s Worldcoin, raised $115M in a Series C funding round led by Blockchain Capital (BBG)

• Nymbus, a Florida-based provider of financial technology solutions, raised a $70M Series D led by Insight Partners (FN)

• Kapital, a Mexican fintech company, raised $65M: a $20M Series A led by Niya Partners and Tribe Capital and a $45M debt facility (TC)

• Leading global food tech company DouxMatok raised a $30M Series C led by dsm-firmenich Venturing and Sienna Venture Capital (PR)

• ConnectDER, a provider of fast connection adapters for solar and other distributed energy resources, raised a $27M Series C led by Energy Innovation Capital (FN)

• Ayar Labs, a Santa Clara-based company that creates silicon photonics for chip-to-chip connectivity, raised an additional $25M in its Series C1 led by Investor Capital TEN (FN)

• Artelon, a Marietta-based medical device company, raised a $20M round led by Vensana Capital (FN)

• Novisto, a Montreal-based ESG data management software company, raised a $20M Series B led by Inovia Capital (PR)

• Checkmate, an LA-based automated savings platform for modern online shopping, raised a $15M Series A led by Google Ventures (FN)

• Pesto, a San Francisco-based provider of an asset-backed secured credit card, raised an $11M funding round (FN)

• Volition, the first and only online industrial parts marketplace designed to help the hardware development world, raised an $11M seed round led by Newark Venture Partners and Quiet Capital (PR)

• Sera Systems, a Texas-based provider of a SaaS service for small-to-medium HVAC, plumbing, and other field service businesses, raised an “eight-figure” Series B (FN)

• Opus, a NY-based training platform for businesses with a deskless workforce, raised a $6.8M Series A led by Stage 2 Capital (FN)

• Kigo, a newly formed company that lets organizations create, distribute, and manage blockchain-enabled experiences, raised $6.5M in funding (FN)

• WireMock, a San Francisco-based API platform that improves developer productivity, raised a $6.5M seed round led by Ridge Ventures (PR)

• HostGPO, a group purchasing organization and marketplace for vacation rental hosts to procure furniture, supplies, and other services, closed a $6M round led by Navitas Capital and OMNIA Partners (PR)

• G.O.A.T. Fuel, the health-forward drink from Pro Football Hall of Famer Jerry Rice, raised a $5M seed round led by Stage 1 Fund and Morrison Seger (PR)

• Dock Health, the administrative hub for healthcare professionals, raised $5M in a funding round led by MassMutual’s MM Catalyst Fund (BW)

IPO / Direct Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

• Indian electric scooter maker Ola Electric, backed by Tiger Global Management and Softbank, is planning to IPO by the end of 2023; it was last valued at $5B in 2022 (RT)

• Adnoc Logistics & Services drew $125B worth of bids for its $769M IPO in Abu Dhabi (BBG)

• Diesel engine maker Cummins is preparing an IPO of its engine filtration division to raise ~$275M (RT)

SPAC

• Fintech MoneyHero Group is merging with Bridgetown Holdings, a SPAC backed by Richard Li and Peter Thiel, in $342M deal (MS)

Bankruptcy / Restructuring

• British cinema chain operator Cineworld is expecting to emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in July (RT)

• Bankrupt crypto lender Celsius Network chose Fahrenheit, a consortium that includes blockchain VC Arrington Capital, to manage the creditor-owned entity that emerges out of its bankruptcy (RT)

Crypto Corner

• Norway’s central bank said that Norwegian regulators should move to establish a national regulatory framework for cryptocurrency instead of waiting for European legislation (RT)

• An EU watchdog called for EU regulators to curb leveraged bets in crypto trading (RT)

• Florida governor and US presidential candidate Ron DeSantis pledged support for cryptocurrency trading and opposes a CBDC (RT)

• The World Economic Forum published a white paper providing recommendations on regulations for crypto assets (CT)

Exec’s Picks

• The Information published a detailed piece on Microsoft swallowing its pride and making a massive bet on OpenAI.

• Morgan Housel wrote a good piece on Expectations Debts and volatile markets.

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