US stocks closed mixed yesterday as investors digested Big Tech earnings and the Fed's rate decision

Oil rose to a four-month high after Trump pressured Iran to negotiate a deal

Gold had its best day in six months as the historic metals rally continues

Dollar rose 0.4% in its best its day since November on hawkish comments from Bessent

ASML issued a Q4 beat-and-raise on record orders driven by robust AI-related chip spending; the firm will also cut 1.7k jobs (WSJ)

Microsoft beat Q4 earnings and revenue estimates but issued light operating margin guidance as cloud growth slowed and CapEx rose to $37.5B (CNBC)

Meta crushed Q4 earnings and revenue estimates and issued upbeat guidance, but projected sharply higher 2026 CapEx of $115B-$135B to fuel its AI investment (BBG)

GE Vernova beat Q4 earnings and revenue estimates but cited wind-unit setbacks that could cut ~$250M from its top line revenue and pressure backlogs (RT)

General Dynamics crushed Q4 earnings and revenue estimates on a 22% surge in Marine Systems and 6% increase in Combat Systems revenue (WSJ)

Starbucks missed Q1 earnings estimates but beat on revenue as same-store sales rose for the first time in two years amid early progress in new CEO Brian Niccol's high-stakes turnaround plan (CNBC)

IBM issued a Q4 beat-and-raise on a 14% jump in software revenue, signaling continued momentum in its higher-margin software business (BBG)

Tesla beat Q4 earnings and revenue estimates but capped its first-ever FY revenue decline due to growing competition and Musk's unpopular political rhetoric (CNBC)

AT&T beat Q4 earnings and revenue estimates driven by strength in its wireless and consumer businesses, including broadband growth (BBG)

What we're watching this week:  

Full calendar here

In typical Musk fashion, Musk is using astrology to time SpaceX's historic IPO

Track and trade live odds on Polymarket

Ex-Lazard banker is negotiating a guilty plea for insider trading (BBG)

Fed held rates at 3.50%-3.75% on improving economy (CNBC) 

Bank of Canada held rates ‌at 2.25% (RT)

Bessent spoke with Trump at length about Fed chair candidates (RT)

Norway's $2T SWF trimmed stakes in US Big Tech stocks in H2 (BBG)

South Korea's stock market cap overtook Germany's (BBG)

Stock surge boosts pensions but private markets risks rise (BBG)

Leveraged firms capitalize on investor demand for US risky loans (BBG)

Hybrid bond rush has buyers grappling with record low spreads (BBG)

Longer-dated munis see uptick in demand on elevated yields (BBG)

Australian bond sales surge to record as investors shun dollar (BBG)

Venezuela's spectacular bond rally runs into a $170B reckoning (BBG)

Secondaries 'important component' of evergreens as inflows surge (SI)

US upstream M&A hit $24B in Q4 rebound (RT)

Blackstone's biggest hedge fund platform gained 12% last year (RT)

Wells Fargo becomes latest to cut proxy advisor ties (WSJ) 

JPMorgan and BofA will match US contribution to Trump Accounts (RT)

German police raided Deutsche Bank in money laundering probe (WSJ)

KPMG's UK partner pay topped EY and PwC for first time in a decade (FT)

Carvana stock plunged 14% on a short seller report (FT)

Citgo bought its first Venezuelan oil since 2019 Venezuela break up (RT)

Mamdani pushed for higher taxes on wealthy to fill NYC's $12B deficit (CNBC)

Activist hedge fund Elliott is considering a tender offer for $37B-listed Toyota Industries, challenging Toyota's $35B+ take-private bid that Elliott criticized as too low

Infrastructure investor Stonepeak struck a deal with French shipping company CMA CGM to create a US ports JV valued at $10B

$2.2B-listed fintech company Alkami is exploring a sale amid pressure from activist hedge fund Jana

Texas-based regional lender Prosperity Bancshares agreed to acquire peer Stellar Bancorp in a $2B cash-and-stock deal

$1.85B-listed enterprise AI software provider C3.AI in talks to merge with software firm Automation Anywhere; Automation was valued at $6.8B in 2019

Indian cricket team Rajasthan Royals' owner Manoj Badale advanced four bidders, including a consortium led by India's Times Internet chairman Satyan Gajwani and another backed by US tech entrepreneur Kal Somani, who submitted a preliminary $1.3B offer

Steel Partners offered to acquire a 51% stake in minimally invasive body treatment devices maker InMode in a $1.1B cash deal at a 19% premium

Canadian miner First Quantum Minerals is looking to sell its copper and zinc mine in Turkey for over $400M

Saudi's PIF-backed golf league LIV Golf is exploring a sale of minority stakes in its teams for the first time, targeting up to $300M valuations

Decorative surface manufacturer Surteco is considering selling assets including its skirtings and technical profile businesses that could be valued at $120M-$240M

Deutsche Bank and its asset manager DWS are considering taking a significant minority stake in life insurance consolidator Frankfurter Leben

Taiwan plans to merge four state-backed asset managers First Securities, Mega International, Taiwan Cooperative, and Hua Nan Investment Trust into a ~$12B AUM giant

Latvia's state-backed airline Air Baltic is exploring a part sale as IPO efforts stall

Musk's xAI raised $2B from Musk's Tesla

AI cloud startup PaleBlueDot AI raised a $150M Series B at an over $1B valuation led by B Capital

Productivity software startup Notion sold $270M of secondary shares at an $11B valuation to existing backers Sequoia and Index Ventures

AI sales startup Clay sold secondary shares at a $5B valuation

Autonomous driving startup Waabi raised a $750M Series C co-led by Khosla Ventures and G2 Venture Partners and $250M in milestone-based capital from Uber

Concealed-weapon detection startup Lassen Peak raise a $10M round led by Structural Capital

Limy, an AI agentic-commerce infrastructure platform, raised a $10M round led by Flybridge

Polish warehouse-automation startup Nomagic raised an $10M Series B extension led by Cogito Capital Partners

Musk's SpaceX plans to raise $50B at a $1.5T valuation in a historic mid-June IPO timed for astrological alignment 

Carlyle and Singapore SWF GIC are seeking to sell $1.6B of shares in aircraft maintenance firm StandardAero at a 6% discount

Thai conglomerate Charoen Pokphand, Fidelity, and UBS Asset Management plan to serve as cornerstone investors in the $1.5B Hong Kong listing of Chinese pig breeder Muyuan Foods

Blackstone-backed sandwich chain Jersey Mike's Subs is working with Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan on an IPO that could raise over $1B at a $12B valuation

Silver Lake, CVC, and GIC-backed UK breakdown cover and car insurance company RAC is selecting banks for a London IPO that could fetch a ~$7B valuation

Space and defense firm York Space Systems raised $630M at a $4.3B valuation in its IPO

Silver Lake and Blackstone-backed property software company Entrata is seeking to raise $500M in an IPO

Neos Partners-backed electrical equipment maker Forgent Power Solutions filed for an IPO that could raise $415M-$480M at an $8.8B valuation

Biotech Eikon ‍Therapeutics is seeking to raise $318M at a $910M valuation in an IPO

NFL star Travis Kelce took a 5% stake in $250M-listed mattress firm Sleep Number

Hair restoration-focused biotech Veradermics is seeking to raise $214M at a $535M valuation in an IPO

Insurance platform Ethos is seeking to raise $200M in an IPO; the firm was last valued at $2.7B in 2021 in a funding round led by SoftBank

Activist hedge fund Fivespan Partners took a 6.2% stake in cloud computing and enterprise software firm Appian

Blackstone is considering expanding its financial commitment to Oracle's $14B Michigan data center project while other investors balk at risks

Apollo's insurance unit Athene acquired a $9B CRE loan portfolio from Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance 

Angola is weighing a $1.7B international bond sale

Pamplona Capital-backed liner solutions firm Loparex is seeking $1.5B of debt to refinance its first-and second-lien loans

Banks led by Deutsche Bank began marketing a $550M junk bond to fund TreeHouse Foods' pending buyout

Terra Firma Capital-backed UK residential real estate firm Annington is facing off against creditors including Centerbridge, DE Shaw, Farallon, Palmerston, and Sona Asset Management in an increasingly heated dispute over a potential default on $1B worth of debt

Creditors holding most of the $1.2B in securitized debt of Bankrupt fast food chain owner FAT Brands accused their CEO of 'looting' the company for over $200M to fund jets, vacations, and jewelry before bankruptcy

Bankrupt auto parts supplier First Brands' creditors flew to Cleveland to assess what's worth salvaging as some weigh liquidation over injecting more cash

Amazon, LVMH, Chanel, Kering, Zegna, and Brookfield joined bankrupt luxury retailer Saks' creditor committee

Stonepeak-backed chemicals logistics firm Rinchem asked lenders to take losses and extend maturities on up to $300M of debt as part of a deal to help finance its acquisition of Dupré Logistics

Clearlake-backed Pretium Packaging filed for bankruptcy after reaching a deal with lenders to restructure debt-laden balance sheet

Sony Music and Singapore SWF GIC agreed to form a JV to acquire music copyrights, with plans to invest $2B-$3B in the project

Growth investor Equality Asset Management raised $575M for its sophomore fund to back small software and technology-enabled services companies in healthcare, insurance, and financial sectors

Apollo-backed private-markets seed FOF New Catalyst Strategic Partners raised $250M for a debut emerging managers PE FOF

Healthcare VC Healthier Capital raised $220M for its debut healthcare technology fund

Life sciences VC Epidarex raised $145M for its fourth fund

European PE firm EQT launched an open-ended CV for data center platform EdgeConnex

Bitcoin believers are looking to stocks and gold

White House will meet with banks and crypto execs on legislation deal

Robinhood will enable 24/7 trading and self-custody with tokenized stocks

Tether is shaking up the gold market with a massive metals hoard

US Marshals are investigating a possible crypto hack

Illicit crypto flows surged to a record $160B

Crypto money-laundering hit $82B in 2025 on Chinese-led growth

Billion-dollar funding rounds for pre-revenue pre-product startups has given rise to a new investing term: Coconut rounds. Check out Bloomberg's take on why 'seed' rounds don't really capture the essence anymore.

Bloomberg Odd Lots sat down with AI consulting leader Noah Brier to hear why the tech world is going crazy for Claude Code.

Also, Anthony Isola explains what looks-maxxing can teach you about money.