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Good Morning,

Fed officials are open to another large rate cut, hedge funds are snapping up tech and media stocks, China announced fresh plans to stimulate the economy, DOJ is going after Visa, and US stock indexes recovered to all-time highs.

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Let's dive in.

Before The Bell

Markets

• US stocks ticked upwards as traders looked to build on last week’s gains

  • S&P and Dow closed at fresh record highs

• China 10Y yields hit a record low 2% on news of economic stimulus

• Gold hit a new ATH

Earnings

• What we're watching this week:  

  • Wednesday: Micron

  • Thursday: Costco, CarMax

• Full calendar here

Headline Roundup

• Fed officials leave door open to another large rate cut (BBG)

• PBOC cut key policy rate and RRR in first address of economic woes (CNBC)

• US companies raise billions in debt markets after rate cut (BBG)

• Money markets shy away from longer-term T-Bills despite rate cut (BBG)

• US Treasury market liquidity back to pre-Fed tightening levels (RT)

• Hedge funds bought tech, media stocks at fastest pace in four months (RT)

• AIMCo CIO exited after less than two years (BBG)

• Big UK investors plan to buy US CRE dip  (RT)

• Fee rule changes to boost UK investment trusts (FT)

• US to sue Visa over illegal debit cards monopoly (BBG)

• Italy's UniCredit trades blows with Germany over Commerzbank stake (WSJ)

• Boeing proposed a 30% wage hike to striking workers in 'final' offer (CNBC)

• Amazon is struggling with its in-house AI (WSJ)

• Battery giant Northvolt will lay off 20% of employees (CNBC)

• US proposed a ban on Chinese components in connected vehicles (WSJ)

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Deal Flow

M&A / Investments

• Swedish PE firm EQT plans to sell a minority stake in $16.7B software firm IFS (FT) 

• French shipping giant CMA plans to acquire port terminal operator Santos Brasil in a $2B deal (RT) 

• Affinity Equity Partners will acquire Australian medical diagnostics firm Healius' Lumus imaging unit for $657M (BBG) 

• $389M-listed Swiss real estate firm Ina Invest is weighing a merger with peer Cham (RT) 

• US businessman Dan Friedkin agreed to buy Premier League team Everton FC from Farhad Moshiri (FT) 

• A consortium including Revolut chairman Martin Gilbert is in talks to buy the Monaco-based arm of private bank Banque Havilland (BBG) 

• French lender BNP Paribas agreed to buy HSBC's $44.6B German private bank (BBG) 

VC

• FMX, a futures exchange aiming to rival CME, raised $172M at a $667M valuation from JPMorgan, Goldman, Citadel Securities and seven others (FT)

• Harmonic, an AI platform developing mathematical superintelligence, raised a $75M Series A at a $325M valuation led by Sequoia (BW)

• Luminance, an AI startup helping businesses manage legal documents, raised a $40M Series B led by March Capital (PRN)

• Pyka, a startup building electric autonomous planes, raised a $40M Series B led by Obvious Ventures (TC)

• HyperLight, a developer of thin film lithium niobate photonic integrated circuits, raised a $37M Series B led by Summit Partners (BW)

• MetOx International, a developer of high temperature superconducting wires, raised a $25M Series B extension led by Centaurus Capital and New System Ventures (PRN)

• Nstock, a Japanese fintech specializing in stock-based compensation, raised $20.9M from WiL, Coral Capital, and others (SAAS)

• Jump, a startup providing full-time contracts to freelancers, raised a $12M Series A led by Breega (TC)

• arqu, a wholesale insurance brokerage startup, raised a $10M Series A led by Crosslink Capital (BW)

• Letta, an AI startup helping LLMs recall conversations, raised a $10M seed round at a $70M valuation led by Felicis (TC)

• Scribenote, an AI-powered medical scribe for veterinarians, raised an $8.2M seed round led by a16z (TFN)

IPO / Direct Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

• Carlyle-backed aircraft maintenance firm StandardAero is seeking to raise $1.1B at a $7.5B valuation in its US IPO (BBG) 

• Retailer MINISO will acquire a 2.49% stake in troubled Chinese supermarket operator Yonghui Superstores from DFI Retail Group and JD.com for $893M (RT) 

• BC Partners-backed academic publisher Springer Nature is seeking to raise up to $596M at a $5.2B valuation in its Frankfurt IPO (BBG)

• NZ-based construction materials supplier Fletcher Building will raise $407M in an institutional placement and rights issue (BBG) 

• Health and wellness firm Applied Nutrition is planning a London IPO (BBG) 

Debt 

• Cloud firm Snowflake is seeking to raise $2B in convertible bonds (BBG)

• Chinese food delivery giant Meituan is planning a ~$1B dollar bond offering (BBG) 

• Online furniture retailer Wayfair is seeking to raise $700M via junk bonds (BBG) 

Fundraising

• KKR raised $4.6B for a debut North America MM fund (RT) 

• Brookfield raised $2.4B for an EM-focused clean energy fund (BBG)

Crypto Corner

• Bitcoin miner Bitfarms will settle with rival and top shareholder Riot Platforms amid a hostile takeover battle (BBG)

• Kamala Harris vowed to help grow investment in crypto if elected (BBG) 

Exec’s Picks

• Sam Altman painted an incredibly positive picture on the state of AI in his new essay "The Intelligence Age," where he predicts superintelligence to emerge sooner than one would imagine. Truly a must read…

• WSJ asked five prominent Wall Street investors how they plan to trade falling interest rates. Here's what they said.

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Meme Cleanser

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