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Good Morning,

The PCE index rose just 3% YoY, US consumer sentiment hit its highest level in two years, Brazil is cutting rates in August, Barbenheimer sales stayed strong in second weekend, DoorDash is working on an AI chatbot to speed up ordering, and the pay gap between US cities is growing wider.

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Let’s dive in.

Before The Bell

Markets

• Stocks rebounded on Friday, rallying after the Fed's preferred inflation gauge showed a continued cooling in pricing pressures

  • The Dow and S&P notched their third-straight winning week

• Oil prices hovered near three-month highs entering Monday, set to post their biggest monthly gain in over a year on expectations that Saudi Arabia would tighten global supply

Earnings

• ExxonMobil missed Q2 expectations with a 56% YoY profit reduction due to a sharp decline in energy prices and lower fuel margins after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine initially sent oil and gas prices soaring in 2022 (RT)

• Procter & Gamble beat Q4 expectations thanks to price hikes for products like Crest toothpaste and Pampers diapers (CNBC)

• What we're watching this week:

  • Today: Yum China

  • Tuesday: Merck, Pfizer, AMD, Caterpillar, Starbucks, Uber

  • Wednesday: CVS, Shopify, PayPal, Kraft Heinz, Metlife

  • Thursday: Apple, Amazon, AB InBev, Wayfair

  • Friday: Dominion Energy, Nikola

• Full calendar here

Headline Roundup

• Fed-favorite PCE index rose 3% YoY, slowest pace in over two years (RT)

• US consumer sentiment rose to its highest level in over two years (BBG)

• Banks vote to limit accounting of emissions in bond and stock sales (RT)

• US companies to move bond sales forward if rates rally (YF)

• PE fundraising fell to lowest level in five years in Q2 (WSJ)

• Brazil set to kick off monetary easing with small rate cut this week (RT)

• White House cuts 2023 US deficit forecast after court blocks student loan forgiveness (RT)

• Twitter X retired its famous blue bird logo (CNBC)

• While everyone else fights inflation, China’s deflation fears deepen (WSJ)

• 'Barbenheimer' box office sales keep rolling in second weekend (RT)

• Suburban strip malls are the hottest real estate play (WSJ)

• Post-pandemic surge in signing bonuses continue to persist (BBG)

• Exxon and Chevron signal they are still shopping for deals (WSJ)

• Blackstone’s BREIT sells property to finance push into AI data centers (FT)

• Colombia proposes record-high $128B 2024 budget (RT)

• Iraqi banks hit with dollar ban are ready to challenge measures (RT)

• DoorDash is working on an AI chatbot to speed up food ordering (BBG)

• Cold War-era atomic bomb site could host largest US solar development (RT)

• AMD will invest $400M in India by 2028 (RT)

• Fox, Flutter to close sports-betting business Fox Bet (RT)

• Pay gap between the biggest US cities is getting wider (BBG)

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Deal Flow

M&A / Investments

• The FDIC is selling an $18.5B Signature Bank loan portfolio comprised of a pool of debt tied to major private equity firms and investing firms such as Starwood Capital Group, Blackstone, and Carlyle Group (BBG)

• Biogen will acquire rare disease drugmaker Reata Pharmaceuticals for almost $7.3B, including debt (BBG)

• BPEA EQT, the Asian private equity arm of Swedish investment firm EQT, merged its Hong Kong business services firms Vistra and Tricor to create a $6.5B combined entity (RT)

• Air France is in talks with Apollo Global Management for $1.7B in financing for a new unit that will hold the trademark and most of the group's commercial partner contracts of its fidelity program (RT)

• Walmart purchased Tiger Global’s stake in Flipkart for $1.4B, valuing the Indian ecommerce company at $35B (BBG)

• PE firm Apax will acquire a 50% stake in medical group Palex at a $1.1B valuation, including debt (RT)

• AstraZeneca will buy a portfolio of rare disease gene therapies from Pfizer in a deal worth up to $1B (BBG)

• Spanish-based renewable energy investor Capital Energy is selling a $1B portfolio of onshore wind and solar power plants in Spain (RT)

• JPMorgan Asset Management entered into a $625M joint venture with single-family landlord AMH to develop rental homes (BBG)

• BP is in advanced talks to sell its Turkish gas stations unit to multinational commodities company Vitol Group’s Turkish fuel distribution company Petrol Ofisi (BBG)

• Glencore is in advanced talks to buyout its partner Pan American Silver Corp's 56% stake in Argentina's Mara copper project (RT)

VC

• Visual Edge IT, a managed IT services and security startup, raised $40M in institutional capital commitments from Encina Private Credit, Ares Management, and more (FN)

• Rivanna Medical, a Charlottesville, VA-based developer of imaging-based medical solutions, received $30.5M in funding from BARDA (FN)

• HerMD, a women’s health startup, raised an $18M Series A extension led by JAZZ (TC)

• IoT-based technology company UV Angel raised an $11M Series A led by Pallas Ventures (FN)

• Beeyond Media, a provider of a programmatic digital out-of-home advertising demand side platform, raised a $10M seed round led by Ricardo Uribe of RAU Capital (FN)

• Smart fitness startup Speediance raised ~$10M in two funding rounds led by Oriza Seed and Haiyi Investment (FN)

• Digital business card company Mobilo raised a $4.1M seed round from Deepwork Capital, TMT Investments, and more (FN)

• Licify, a procurement and financial software startup for the construction industry, raised a $3.4M seed round led by Brick & Mortar Ventures and Accion Venture Lab (FN)

• ReflexAI, a provider of AI-powered training and quality assurance tools for high-stakes call centers, raised a $3.3M round led by Footwork (FN)

IPO / Direct Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

• UAE-based crypto mining hardware retailer Phoenix Technology is in preliminary discussions about a potential IPO (BBG)

• According to Chinese state media, a listing of Chinese fintech Ant Group is unlikely in the short term (RT)

SPAC

• EV maker VinFast is targeting a $23B US public listing in August through its merger with Black Spade Acquisition Corp. (BBG)

Debt

• Portuguese solar project developer Prosolia Energy received $275M in financing from US-based fund EIG (RT)

Bankruptcy / Restructuring

• Mexican state energy company Pemex, which has $111B in debt, received a $4B capital injection from the Mexican government (BBG)

• Trucking company Yellow laid off a large portion of its workforce and is shutting down regular operations as it prepares to file for bankruptcy (WSJ)

Crypto Corner

• Stable pools on Curve Finance were exploited for over $47M in losses due to a reentrancy vulnerability (CT)

• All Kraken systems are operational after issue with Ethereum funding gateway (RT)

Exec’s Picks

• Sweater Ventures (a Litquidity portfolio company) is helping both accredited and non-accredited investors support the next wave of groundbreaking startups. They are opening investments into the Sweater Inc fintech platform to the Exec Sum community, but this opportunity closes on July 31^st  (i.e. TODAY). Interested in investing? Learn more here.

• This Axios piece breaks down why the US economy seems so immune to rate hikes.

• Michael Mauboussin and Dan Callahan co-authored an excellent piece on the demographics and wealth creation patterns of US public companies.

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