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Cathie Wood's Ark Investment Management is down $50B from its peak, Musk expects Twitter to break even next year, US companies are turning to contract workers, China posted a record year for IPOs, PE activity dropped 66% in Q4, India plans to phase out open market stock buybacks, and Caroline Ellison and Gary Wang pleaded guilty to DOJ fraud charges.

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Let's dive in.

Before The Bell

Markets

• All three major US stock indexes posted their biggest daily gains of the month on improving consumer confidence data

• Global stocks also rose, with the pan-European Stoxx 600 climbing 1.7%, following BoJ's policy change

• Russian rouble hit its lowest level against the dollar since May

Earnings

• Micron missed on Q1 earnings and revenue estimates and forecast larger than expected Q2 losses on 'a dramatic drop in demand'; the firm will cut 10% of its staff and suspend 2023 bonuses (CNBC)

• What we're watching this week:

  • Today: CarMax

• Full calendar here

Headline Roundup

• US consumer confidence rose to an eight month high in December (YH)

• US existing home sales fell 7.7% in November for tenth straight monthly decline (CNBC)

• Global M&A value is down 37% YTD, contracting 56% in Q4 (RT)

• PE activity plunged 66% in Q4 (RT)

• China posted a record year for IPOs despite global collapse (BBG)

• US companies turn to contract workers in face of recession fears (FT)

• US current account deficit contracted 9.1% in Q3 (RT)

• Republican senators introduced a bill aimed at overhauling the Fed (RT)

• $2.2B of Russian gold has been purged from ETFs in H2 (RT)

• India will gradually ban stock buybacks from the open market (BBG)

• South Korea vowed deregulation amid slowing economic growth (RT)

• Cathie Wood’s Ark Investment Management lost ~$50B in assets since 2021 peak (FT)

• Citadel expects to return $7B in profits to clients amid strong 2022 performance (RT)

• Credit Suisse clients are returning (RT)

• Musk expects Twitter to break-even on cash flows next year (RT)

• Alphabet linked more of CEO Pichai's pay to performance (RT)

• Intel split its graphic chips unit into two to better compete with Nvidia and AMD (RT)

• Tesla brought in China-based execs to jumpstart US output (RT)

• Micron will lay off 10% of its workforce next year (RT)

• Tesla will lay off employees and freeze hiring next quarter (YH)

• TuSimple will lay off 25% of its workforce (RT)

• Under Armour named Marriott exec Stephanie Linnartz as new CEO (CNBC)

• House Ways and Means Committee will release six years of Trump's tax returns (AX)

• Law student diversity hit record highs this year (RT)

• Champagne sales are expected to reach a new record this year (RT)

• NASA's Mars InSight lander mission ended after four years (AX)

A Banksy got everyday investors 32% returns?

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But art? Really? We were skeptical too, until we saw the numbers.

Contemporary art prices:

• Outpaced the S&P 500 by 131% over the last 26 years.

• Have the lowest correlation to equities of any asset class, according to Citi

• Remained stable through the dot-com bubble and ‘08 crisis

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See important Regulation A disclosures.

Deal Flow

M&A / Investments

• Aircraft lessor SMBC Aviation Capital purchased smaller rival Goshawk Aviation for $6.7B (RT)

• Australian mining firm BHP Group made a binding offer to acquire Australian copper producer OZ Minerals for $6.4B (BBG)

• UK government will provide up to $5.4B to Octopus Energy to support the purchase of failed electricity supplier Bulb (FT)

• Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. bought a 24.9% stake worth ~$4.1B in Austrian energy firm OMV (BBG)

• Saudi-owned Hassan Investment Company will take a 10.2% stake in three flagship Dubai Port World developments for $2.4B BBG)

• Japan's Nippon Steel offered to pay up to $1B to take Nippon Steel Trading private (BBG)

• UK oil and gas producer Serica Energy agreed to buy North Sea peer Tailwind Energy Investments for $782M, including debt (RT)

• India's Reliance Retail Ventures agreed to buy German retailer Metro AG's Indian unit for $344M (RT)

• Saudi Arabia's PIF bought a 30% stake in Tabreed, the local venture of National Central Cooling Co., for ~$250M (BBG)

• Blackstone-backed Hipgnosis Songs Capital is nearing a deal to buy Justin Bieber's music rights for ~$200M (WSJ)

• Life-sciences company Berkeley Lights agreed to buy cancer-focused biotech IsoPlexis for $57.8M in stock (BBG)

• AMC abandoned talks to acquire bankrupt Cineworld's theaters (CNBC)

VC

• Enveda Biosciences, a biotech startup using metabolomics and machine learning to identify new drugs, raised a $68M debt / equity Series B led by Dimension (BW)

• Anocca, a cell therapy biotechnology startup, raised $26.5M in venture debt from the European Investment Bank (PRN)

• Software and infrastructure financing startup Gynger raised $21.7M: a $10M debt facility from Upper90 and an $11.7M seed round led by Upper90 and Vine Ventures (PRN)

• Deepfake video startup Deep Voodoo raised a $20M round from Connect Ventures (TC)

• Metriport, a startup helping digital health companies access and manage user health / medical data, raised a $2.4M seed round at a $20M valuation from Y Combinator, Triple Impact Capital, Nueterra Capital, and others (TC)

IPO / Direct Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

• Tata Group’s grocery e-commerce store Bigbasket is eyeing a 2025 IPO after raising $200M at a $3.2B valuation in its latest funding round (BBG)

SPAC

• Geely-backed tech startup Ecarx raised $410M in its SPAC debut (BBG)

Bankruptcy / Restructuring

• US bitcoin miner Core Scientific filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy; the firm still generates positive cash flow and plans to continue mining while repaying debt holders (CNBC)

Fundraising

• Finnish asset manager eQ raised ~$538M for three funds: $306M for eQ PE XIV North focusing on Northern Europe, $160M for eQ PE SF IV focusing on secondary transactions, and $72M for eQ VC focusing on US VC (GNW)

Crypto Corner

• Ex-FTX execs Gary Wang and Caroline Ellison pleaded guilty to DOJ fraud charges and are cooperating with investigators (CD)

• FTX used a token it invented to fund its 2020 takeover of trading platform Blockfolio (BBG)

• India central bank chief warned crypto will cause the next financial crisis if permitted to grow (TC)

• Twitter added BTC and ETH price indexes to search function (CT)

Exec's Picks

• Tonight’s NFL game features two teams fighting for a spot in the playoffs. The JAC Jaguars vs. NY Jets at MetLife is currently a toss-up according to the market on Sporttrade, America’s only regulated sports trading exchange, with each team trading at $50.5 (50.5% chance to win). Wait to see who scores first and then buy the dip if you think the score will swing back and forth. It doesn't matter which team actually wins, you can trade in and out of the game based on the momentum of the game. Because on Sporttrade, you can trade sports like you do stocks. Download on iOS anywhere. If you are in NJ or travel to NJ you can start trading today.

The Hiring Block 💼

If you're looking to break into finance, lateral, or move out, check out our job board on Pallet, where we curate highly relevant roles for you. We aim to curate jobs across IB, S&T, VC, tech, private equity, DeFi, crypto, CorpDev and more. We'll sift through all the noise on LinkedIn, Indeed, Monster, etc. so you don't have to.

If you're a company looking to hire candidates and want to list a job opening on our board and feature on Exec Sum, click the button below:

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