US stocks slipped from record highs yesterday on a slump in OpenAI-linked stocks ahead of crucial Big Tech earnings and a Fed rate decision

Brent oil climbed past $110/bbl again for the first time in three weeks

US average gas prices rose to $4.18/gal to the highest since 2022

Bitcoin touched a 12-week high

UBS beat Q1 estimates as profit rocketed 80% to $3B on ​record trading revenues amid market turbulence from the Iran war (CNBC)

UPS beat Q1 earnings and revenue estimates on successful execution of several major strategic actions amid its turnaround plan, though the firm warned that recent fuel price spikes could hurt forward demand (CNBC)

Visa issued a Q1 beat-and-raise with its biggest revenue jump since 2022 as resilient consumer spending across all segments (WSJ)

Spotify beat Q1 earnings and revenue estimates on strong MAU and premium subscribers growth but issued soft guidance as price hikes begin to weigh on subscriber growth (CNBC)

Robinhood missed Q1 earnings estimates on weak transaction volume despite surging fees on prediction market trades and growth in its subscription service; the firm also warned on costs tied to 'Trump Accounts' (WSJ)

Coca-Cola issued a Q1 beat-and-raise on rising global demand amid spending resilience from high-income shoppers for premium brands like fairlife and smartwater (CNBC)

Hilton missed Q1 revenue estimates but beat on earnings and boosted FY guidance on strong growth across its brands and negligible effects from the spike in fuel prices (WSJ)

What we're watching this week:  

Full calendar here

The Musk v. Altman trial officially began, with Musk having some interesting things to say in his testimony

Trade event contracts on Polymarket, the world's largest prediction market

UAE quit OPEC (CNBC)

Mamdani is pushing to shrink a NY hedge fund and PE tax break (BBG)

Wall Street banks boost Treasury holdings to the highest since 2007 (FT)

BoJ held rates steady at 0.75% (CNBC)

Algorithms are 'dominating' buyside FX trading (BBG)

China VCs are boosting parallel funds for US investors (BBG)

OpenAI-linked stocks slumped on report it missed key targets (BBG)

BofA expects the busiest month for high-grade bond sales since Covid (BBG)

Funds pitching SpaceX rush to lure retail investors ahead of IPO (BBG)

Musk testified in the Musk v. Altman trial (RT)

Rivian's CEO made a whopping $400M last year (FT)

Jane Street is set to double its London footprint (BBG)

JPMorgan will sponsor the Olympics and Winter Games (RT)

Finnish elevator maker Kone is nearing a deal to acquire Advent and Cinven-backed rival TK Elevator in a $34B cash-and-stock deal, including debt

French spirits giant Pernod Ricard and American rival Brown‑Forman ended talks for a $30B merger

German media giant Bertelsmann agreed to buy independent music group Concord and merge it with its BMG Rights Management unit in a cash-and-stock deal to create a $14B and world's fourth‑largest music ​company 

European PE firm CVC is weighing a $10.6B LBO of ​Italian payments group Nexi

Stonepeak-backed Asian data center operator Digital Edge is exploring a $10B sale 

French utility EDF pushed back a decision for a stake sale in its Italian unit Edison which could fetch a ~$10B valuation

Specialty electronics firm Ametek is in exclusive talks to acquire the testing and measurement units of CD&R-backed industrials company Indicor for $5B 

Eli Lilly signed a $2.25B deal with AI CRISPR startup Profluent for exclusive rights to drugs it develops

Japanese oil giant ENEOS is the last remaining bidder for Chevron's Singapore oil assets, which could fetch over $2B

US-based Entrepreneur Equity Partners agreed to buy a 16% stake in Portuguese soccer club Benfica from Portuguese agri tycoon José António dos Santos at a $290M equity value for a 70% premium

New Mountain Capital-backed account firm Grant Thornton US plans to buy its Aussie sister as part of its global merger spree

TPG Asia Real Estate acquired a majority stake in some logistics assets in Japan from Asian real estate firm ESR Group

Management re-acquired a majority stake in advisory Solomon Partners from Natixis, the IB unit of French lender BPCE

Italian energy giant ​Eni hired JPMorgan to advise ‌on a sale of a cracking site to ​reduce its exposure to petrochemicals

Japanese shipping firm Mitsui O.S.K. Lines plans to set up a REIT amid pressure from activist Elliott

Italian eyewear giant EssilorLuxottica weighed an investment in ​Italian hearing aid maker Amplifon 

Spirits giant Sazerac took a minority stake in Kendall Jenner's 818 Tequila

Missile interceptor startup True Anomaly raised a $650M Series D at a $2.2B valuation co-led by Eclipse and Riot Ventures 

Manifest OS, an AI company powering AI-native law firms, raised a $60M Series A at a $750M valuation led by Menlo Ventures

Actively, an intelligence-led revenue platform, raised a $45M Series B co-led by TCV and First Harmonic

CleanDesign, a software-driven energy technology company, raised a $20M growth investment led by Edison Partners

Liquid, a 24/7 trading platform, raised an $18M seed round co-led by Neo and Left Lane Capital

Clarasight, an AI platform for enterprise travel and expense, raised an $11.5M Series A led by AlleyCorp

Skyfire AI, a public-safety and mission-critical drone autonomy startup, raised an $11M seed round led by Mucker Capital

Marloo, an AI partner for financial advisers, raised a $10M seed round led by Blackbird Ventures

Center Consoles Only (CCO), the media brand-turned-boating vertical platform founded by Alan Blanco, raised $2.5M from the Slow Creator Fund

Energy activist investor Kimmeridge built 1.4% stake in shale producer Devon Energy and is pushing for asset sales following its $21B all-stock acquisition of rival Coterra Energy

Activist Starboard Value took a significant stake in $11B-listed AI-software maker Dynatrace

Activist Elliott built a 5% stake in $6B Japan-listed logistics giant Nippon Express 

Chinese EV battery giant CATL raised $5B in Hong Kong share placement priced at the bottom of a marketed range at a 7% discount

Singapore SWF Temasek, Canada's CPPIB, and India's state-owned ​Life Insurance Corporation are among 20 investors looking to sell stakes in the $2.75B India IPO of India's National ​Stock Exchange which could fetch a $55B market value

EQT-backed Indian IT services firm Virtusa is looking to raise $1B at an over $7B valuation in an India IPO

Airtel Africa, the African telecoms unit of Indian conglomerate Bharti Enterprises, plans to raise $1.5B-$2B at a $10B valuation in a London IPO of its mobile money business Airtel Money

Brazilian conglomerate Cosan plans to raise $622M at a $5B valuation in a Brazil IPO of Compass Gas e Energia, the nation's first in five years

Chinese optical-computing company Lightelligence surged 400% in its trading debut after raising $323M for a $10.4B market cap in an oversubscribed Hong Kong IPO priced at the top of a marketed range

Rare Earths Americas is seeking to raise $53M at a $370M valuation in an IPO

Tiger Global-backed Indian used-car marketplace unicorn Spinny hired banks for an India IPO

Walt Disney will not spin off ESPN

Blue Water Acquisition Corp. IV is in talks to acquire and split Venezuelan oil JV PetroUrdaneta from Swedish fintech investor Maha Capital in a potential $130M deal after failing to acquire Venezuela's CITGO Petroleum with a previous $10B vehicle  

Blackstone-backed data center operator QTS is in talks with banks for $2B to guarantee electricity fees

Pan-African lender Ecobank is planning a $500M subordinated bond sale to refinance debt

Columbia University plans to sell $485M of munis

State-owned Petroperu needs over $2B in private capital funding to avoid fuel shortages 

Barclays took a $310M hit from the collapse of UK mortgage lender MFS

Oaktree sued BJ's Wholesale Club for backing out of a deal to sell $30M of tariff refund rights for 70¢

FreshRealm, the exclusive maker of meal kits for Blue Apron, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy with plans to sell its assets to online grocer and supplier Misfit Market and settle a recall dispute that led to its bankruptcy

Two creditor groups to bankrupt Spirit Airlines approved a $500M bailout plan from the US government

French PE firm Ardian is preparing to raise a new secondaries fund after amassing a record $30B for the strategy last year

Swedish PE firm EQT raised $3.6B billion for its fifth European logistics real estate fund

Silver Rock Capital Partners, the investment firm spun out of Michael Milken's family office, raised $4B for its largest-ever distressed debt fund

Secondaries firm Kline Hill Partners partnered with early-stage VC Cendana Capital to raise a second $400M VC secondaries fund

Energy secondaries firm Endurance Investment Partners is seeking to raise $350M for a debut energy secondaries fund

Insurer Northwestern Mutual raised the size of its corporate VC fund from $200M to $350M

Lower MM PE firm Broadtree Partners raised a $240M multi-asset CV led by FOF Adams Street Partners 

Trump-linked World Liberty Financial partnered with a crypto venture tied to sanctioned scam-ring operators

Jack Dorsey's Block revealed $2.2B in Bitcoin holdings in Q1

Strategy slowed Bitcoin buying and switched back to common sales

CFTC sued Wisconsin for encroaching its authority over crypto prediction markets

“It is not okay to steal a charity, that's my view" -Elon Musk in his testimony in the high-profile Musk v. Altman case. Read some more statements from day 2 of the trial here.

WSJ published a short explanation of how Larry Ellison's wealth differs from other tech billionaires.