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US consumers' inflation expectations hit its lowest level in a year, corporate bond ETFs are plunging to new lows, the average US mortgage is above 7%, Biden will reevaluate the US's relationship with Saudi Arabia, the BoE is giving pension funds 3 days to balance positions, China and India call for Russian de-escalation in Ukraine, and the SEC is probing Bored Ape creator Yuga Labs.

Let's dive in.

Before The Bell

If you want to learn more about crypto trading strategies and the world of DeFi, check out our Foot Guns newsletter.

Markets

• US stocks fell yesterday with UK bonds and Thursday's CPI reading in the spotlight

  • Tuesday marked the fifth consecutive day of declines for the S&P 500 and Nasdaq, with the Nasdaq joining the S&P and Dow in its second bear market this year

• 30Y Treasury climbed as high as 3.941% to its highest level in nine years

• Russian ruble slumped to a 3+ month low against the dollar

Earnings

• What we're watching this week:

  • Today: PepsiCo

  • Thursday: Delta Air Lines, BlackRock, Taiwan Semiconductor

  • Friday: JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Morgan Stanley, Citigroup

• Full calendar here

Headline Roundup

• US consumers inflation expectations eased to 5.4% to lowest number in a year (CNBC)

• US consumers expect household spending growth of 6%, the lowest level since January and the biggest one-month decline ever (CNBC)

• US corporate bond ETFs are plunging to new lows amid global debt market rout (RT)

• Average US 30-year mortgage rate surpassed 7% (CNBC)

• PC shipments plunged ~20% YoY in steepest drop in over 20 years (WSJ)

• Biden will 're-evaluate' US-Saudi relationship after OPEC+ oil cut (AX)

• IMF cut 2023 global growth forecast and warned that 'worst is yet to come’ (CNBC)

• BoE's governor gave pension funds 3 days to rebalance their positions (CNBC)

• UK pension funds are racing to raise at least $355B in total to shore up derivatives positions before BoE ends emergency bond-buying scheme on Friday (RT)

• Swiss National Bank cut overnight deposits by ~$30B last week (RT)

• Russian allies China and India called for de-escalation in Ukraine (AX)

• SEC's scrutiny into Wall St communications has shifted to investment funds and advisors (RT)

• TikTok plans to build its own US fulfillment centers in an attempt to challenge Amazon (AX)

• A US judge approved an auction schedule to sell shares in Citgo Petroleum's parent company, which could force a breakup of the Venezuela-owned US oil refiner (RT)

• Uber and Doordash shares plunged on Labor Department's proposal to change gig worker classification (CNBC)

• Peloton co-founder John Foley faced repeated margin calls on money he borrowed against his Peloton holdings before he left the firm's board (WSJ)

• Jamie Dimon thinks UK PM deserves benefit of the doubt amid recent market turmoil (CNBC)

• Rail union BMWED rejected a Biden-brokered labor deal, raising prospect of a strike (AX)

• British businessman Graham Bonham-Carter was arrested on US charges of helping a Russian oligarch evade US sanctions (RT)

• A NASA asteroid strike test succeeded in shifting asteroid's orbit (CNBC)

• GM is looking to parlay its battery work into new energy business (WSJ)

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Deal Flow

M&A / Investments

• Mall giant Simon Property Group agreed to buy 50% of real estate investment firm Jamestown, which had $13B+ AUM as of June 30 (BBG)

• US drugmaker Viatris is considering a potential sale of its consumer-health assets in Europe that could fetch $2.9B+ in a deal (BBG)

• Thoma Bravo agreed to buy identity-verification software maker ForgeRock in a $2.3B deal (BBG)

• Oil and gas producer Diamondback Energy agreed to buy all leasehold interest and related assets of FireBird Energy for $1.6B (RT)

• Lego owner Kirkbi agreed to buy US video-learning firm Brainpop for $875M (WSJ)

• Bahrain-based investment company GFH Financial agreed to buy a portfolio of US medical clinics in a ~$400M deal (RT)

• Retail sector holding company CSC Generation’s $191M offer for home furnishings retailer Bassett Furniture was rejected for being 'too low' (RT)

• General Motors will invest up to $69M and take an equity stake in Australia-based Queensland Pacific Metals to secure a new source of metals for vehicle battery cells (RT)

• Delta Airlines agreed to buy a 2% stake in electric aircraft company Joby Aviation for $60M, as it makes a bet on flying-taxi rides to and from airports (WSJ)

• Russian state-owned NAMI will buy Nissan's Russian business for ~$1 (yes), giving Nissan a ~$687M loss (RT)

VC

• Puttshack, a tech-centric mini golf experience, raised $150M in funding from BlackRock and Promethean Investments (PRN)

• Factorial, a startup that makes HR technology for SMBs, raised a $120M Series C led by Atomico (TC)

• Neumora Therapeutics, a clinical-stage biotech company focused on brain diseases, raised a $112M Series B led by Abu Dhabi Growth Fund, ADG, Altitude Life Science Ventures, Amgen, and others (BW)

• Stairwell, a cyber security startup, raised a $45M Series B led by Section 32 (PRN)

• Virtual mental health provider Brave Health raised a $40M Series C led by Town Hall Ventures (PRN)

• Social ecommerce startup Elenas raised a $20M Series B led by DILA Capital (TC)

• Flueid, a real estate tech startup, raised $20M: a $15M Series B led by Aquiline Technology Growth and $5M as a relationship extension with SVB (BW)

• Insite.AI, a startup providing AI-driven category and revenue growth management solutions for consumer brands, raised a $19M Series A led by NewRoad Capital and M12 (PRN)

• Construction equipment marketplace YardLink raised a $17.5M Series A led by Beringea (TC)

• Web3 low-code platform SettleMint raised a $15.5M Series A led by Molten Ventures and OTB Venture (TC)

• Foxglove, a startup building an infrastructure stack for robotics, raised a $15M Series A led by Eclipse (TC)

• Peru and Mexico-based short term credit provider Tienda Pago raised a $12M Series B led by Women World Banking Asset Management and IDC Ventures (PRN)

• CLASSUM, an interactive learning platform for corporations and universities, raised an $11M pre-Series B led by Dunamu Partners (PRN)

• NocoDB, a no-code database platform, raised a $10.5M seed round led by Decibel and OSS Capital (BW)

• Konvy, a Thailand beauty e-commerce platform, raised a $10M Series A led by Insignia Ventures Partners (TC)

• Solar energy company Solestial raised a $10M seed round led by Airbus Ventures (BW)

• Arro, a low-interest credit platform, raised a $10M seed round led by Crosslink Capital (PRN)

• Defense-focused startup Adyton raised a $10M Series A led by Khosla Ventures (BW)

• Belgian low-code business process management platform Axelor raised a $9.7M Series A led by Inter Invest Capital (BW)

• OatFi, a startup providing working capital infrastructure for B2B payments platforms, raised an $8M seed round led by QED Investors (BW)

• AgriWebb, a livestock business management solution, raised a $6.7M Series B extension from by Germin8 Ventures and iSelect Fund (BW)

• Collaborative workflow startup Relay raised a $5M seed round led by Khosla Ventures (BW)

• Crypto asset management platform Arch raised a $5M seed round led by DCG and Upload Ventures (BW)

• Fido, a startup building an ‘operating system’ for LatAm schools, raised a $5M round led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, NFX, and more (TC)

• Web3-friendly app store developer Magic Square is looking to raise $4.4M at a $120M valuation (TC)

IPO / Direct Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

• MIddle East optical retailer and eye clinic operator Magrabi Medical is considering in IPO in Saudi Arabia that could raise ~$200M (BBG)

• Cathie Wood’s Ark Next Generation Internet ETF bought 23k+ shares of software product maker Adobe, a month after buying ~22k shares, as the stock hovers near its mid-September low (BBG)

SPAC

• Vote to delay Trump Media merger with Digital World Acquisition Corp was postponed for another three weeks (CNBC)

Debt

• Carlyle bought ~$1.5B worth of debt in total for the buyouts of cloud computing company Citrix Systems and consumer data giant Nielsen Holdings as banks struggle to find buyers for debt they agreed to provide to finance the deals (BBG)

• Step, a startup building an all-in-one financial solution for the next generation, raised $300M in debt from Triplepoint Capital and Evolve Bank Trust (BW)

Fundraising

• NextView Ventures raised a $200M fund which is split between a $135M early-stage vehicle and a $65M opportunity vehicle (TC)

Crypto Corner

• Google is partnering with crypto exchange Coinbase to let cloud customers pay in crypto starting next year (TV)

• US Treasury fined crypto exchange Bittrex $29.3M for violating multiple US sanctions and Bank Secrecy Act (CNBC)

• BNY Mellon will add crypto to custody manager services in digital asset push (RT)

• SEC is probing Bored Ape creator Yuga Labs over unregistered offerings (CD)

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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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