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Good Morning,

Traders are going all in on rate cut bets despite size uncertainty, JPMorgan may take over Apple's credit card, Trump unveiled a new crypto venture, and Steve Cohen is stepping down from trading to end a historic 40-year run.

Automate your complicated business spend and expense allocation process with one of the fastest growing fintech softwares in the alternative asset management space, StavPay.

Let's dive in.

Before The Bell

Markets

• US stocks closed flat yesterday as investors took varying positions on the Fed's imminent rate cut

  • Activity in Fed funds futures hit the highest level ever

  • Market odds of a bigger 50 bps rate cut stood at 63%

• Europe's STOXX 600 and UK's FTSE 100 closed at two-week highs

  • Markets raised odds of a second BoE rate cut to 35% 

Earnings

• What we're watching this week:  

  • Today: General Mills

  • Thursday: FedEx

• Full calendar here

Headline Roundup

• US retail sales unexpectedly rose in August (RT)

• Global defensive sector funds see surge in inflows on slowdown fears (RT)

• Investors still buying US junk debt despite weak protections (RT)

• Companies to hang on to high-yielding cash ahead of Fed rate cut (WSJ)

• Vanguard experiment finds investors prefer to defer in shareholder votes (FT)

• Steve Cohen will stop trading at Point72 to focus on running the company, mentoring, and running the Mets (WSJ)

• JPMorgan is in talks to take over Apple's credit card from Goldman (WSJ)

• Diddy was arrested and charged (WSJ)

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Deal Flow

M&A / Investments

• Consumer giant Reckitt is in early discussions with suitors for its homecare assets, which could fetch $7.9B in a sale (BBG) 

• FanDuel-owner Flutter Entertainment agreed to buy Playtech’s Italian gambling business for $2.6B cash (BBG) 

• Store operator Arko is considering a sale of its convenience store operations in a potential deal worth ~$2B (RT) 

• Macquarie is weighing a stake sale in UK IT services provider Wavenet at a $1.6B+ valuation (BBG) 

• Billionaire Marcelo Claure acquired a 10% stake in New York City FC at a $1.5B valuation (BBG) 

• Power infrastructure developer VivoPower International will merge with Canada's Future Automotive Solutions to create a $1.1B entity (RT) 

• Singapore's CapitaLand Investment is in advanced talks to buy a 20%-30% stake in French luxury resort chain Club Med from Chinese owner Fosun International for ~$557M (BBG) 

• Canadian pension CDPQ will acquire a 30% stake in US utility firm AES's Ohio subsidiary for $546M (RT) 

• Electronics manufacturer Molex will acquire Philip Morris's Vectura asthma inhaler maker for ~$390M (FT)

• Online startup Tortoise Media is in talks to acquire the world’s oldest Sunday newspaper Observer (FT) 

• PE investor Steve Pagliuca is discussing a takeover of French football club Red Star FC (BBG) 

• Italian lender UniCredit will seek ECB permission to build a 30% stake in Germany's Commerzbank (BBG)

VC

• Quick-commerce startup Flink raised a $150M round at a ~$1B valuation from BOND, Mubadala, Northzone, and others (TC)

• Cybersecurity startup Intezer raised a $33M Series C led by Norwest (TC)

• Greenlite, a startup automating construction permitting, raised a $28.5M Series A led by Craft Ventures (TC)

• Billing platform Orb raised a $25M Series B led by Mayfield (TC)

• Roots Automation, a GenAI for insurance, raised a $22.2M Series B led by Harbert Growth Partners (PRN)

• Aerwave, a managed WiFi platform for apartments, raised a $20M Series B led by Moderne Ventures (PRN)

• DeltaStream, a server-less stream processing platform, raised a $15M Series A led by NEA, Galaxy Interactive, and Sanabil Investments (BW)

• Cybersecurity startup RunSafe Security raised a $12M Series B led by Critical Ventures and SineWave Venture Partners (PRN)

• Retention-driven recruitment platform Clasp raised a $10M round led by Crosslink Capital (PRN)

• Cybord, an AI quality and traceability solutions for electronics manufacturing, raised an $8.7M Series A led by Capri Ventures (PRN)

• Global carbon accounting platform Zevero raised a $7M seed round led by Spiral Capital (EU)

IPO / Direct Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

• Chinese appliance maker Midea jumped 8% in its $4B Hong Kong listing, Hong Kong’s largest in three years (BBG) 

• Chinese insurance broker Yuanbao filed for a US IPO (RT) 

Debt

• Netherlands will lend $21B to state-owned grid operator TenneT after it failed to sell its German network (BBG) 

• PE-owned utility services USCI raised $1.4B in private credit led by KKR (BBG)

Bankruptcy / Restructuring / Distressed

• Distressed Brazilian cement maker InterCement reached an agreement to begin a $4B out-of-court restructuring (BBG) 

• Lenders to PE-backed German brand aggregator SellerX canceled plans to auction the firm (BBG) 

Fundraising

• BlackRock and Microsoft plan to raise $30B in PE capital for their Global AI Infrastructure Investment Partnership (BBG)  

• Crypto VC Dragonfly Capital is seeking $500M for its fourth fund (BBG) 

Crypto Corner

• Trump unveiled a new crypto venture World Liberty Financial (AX)

• SEC says FTX-auditor Prager Metis did not understand the crypto market (FT)

• US urged leniency for FTX's Caroline Ellison for help in SBF's case (RT)

• CBDC momentum is growing (RT)

Exec’s Picks

• The Chicago Atlantic Digital Mining strategy provides a stable structure for Bitcoin mining investing with monthly distributions and annualized returns of 36 percent to date. Now open to all accredited investors.

• Nick Maggiulli shared some great insights on the predictive power of country demographics in stock markets.

• Bloomberg published a piece on the hedge fund titans who are breeding a pack of startup cubs, especially in the past five years.

Investment Banking Opportunity

Cascadia Capital - Investment Banking Analysts & Associates

• Independent middle market advisory is hiring experienced IB associates and analysts in Austin, Minneapolis and Seattle

• The firm is expanding after a significant investment from ex-Barclays CEO Bob Diamond and several senior banker hires.

• Seeking associates and analysts across technology, industrials, consumer, and business services coverage, and analysts in capital markets and generalist roles

• Immediate start, competitive comp packages

Meme Cleanser

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