Together with
Good Morning,
SpaceX's listing could unlock a $3T IPO wave, CVC is preparing for a leadership succession, Lazard's CEO sees lobbying as an essential element for M&A, the Fed cut rates in a rare divided vote, and Oracle got cooked on earnings.
At a startup and you've finally began signing customers? Download Vanta's SOC 2 checklist to make sure compliance is not holding you back.
Let's dive in.
Before The Bell
As of 12/10/2025 market close.
Learn more about the Litquidity portfolios and subscribe to the strategies on Autopilot.*
Markets
US stocks rose yesterday as traders digested a third Fed rate cut of 2025
Oracle CDS's rose to 125 bps to 2008-highs
Cisco finally recovered all losses from the dot-com bubble burst
Pakistan's KSE 100 index is up 47% YTD and over 300% in three years ahead of a historic IPO spree
Global long-term bond yields hit a 16-year high on fading rate cut bets
Fed officials are split on 2026 rate cuts, with median forecast at one
Traders are pricing in two Fed rate cuts for 2026
US 2Y yield fell 8 bps to 3.54% in its best day in two months
Dollar had its worst day since September
Earnings
Oracle beat Q3 earnings estimates but missed on revenue on disappointing cloud sales despite booming AI infrastructure demand; their stock plummeted 12% on growing debt, CapEx, and AI bubble worries (CNBC)
Adobe issued a Q3 beat-and-raise as strong demand and rapid adoption of its AI tools eased concerns of threats from AI (BBG)
What we're watching this week:
Today: Broadcom, Costco, lululemon
Full calendar here
Prediction Markets
Prediction markets, bond markets, and Fed officials are all out of sync on 2026 rate cuts forecasts
Trade your position on the Fed's rate policy ahead on Polymarket.
Headline Roundup
Fed will begin short-term bond buying to boost market liquidity (WSJ)
US Treasury wants a central role in enforcing AML rules (WSJ)
US employment costs growth slowed further in Q3 (BBG)
Lazard CEO says a DC lobbying strategy is now essential for M&A (RT)
SpaceX IPO plan puts $3T of listings on the table (BBG)
Investment banks are compiling historic deal datasets to feed AI tools (BBG)
Massive debt-fueled deals are back on Wall Street (WSJ)
CVC creates president role as PE giant prepares for succession (FT)
Blackstone says data centers are still an attractive investment (RT)
Ares is resisting partnering with traditional asset managers (BBG)
Paramount's WBD bid draws Gulf investors into rare alliance (FT)
Hong Kong IPO boom obscures sharp drop in underwriting fees (BBG)
Hong Kong warned bankers to improve quality of IPO paperwork (FT)
Japan block trading hit a record high amid corporate reform (BBG)
Surging Japan stocks leads to wave of stock splits (BBG)
Norway's $2T SWF wants more internal trading (BBG)
Canada's CPPIB balks at paying fees to co-invest with PE (BBG)
India opens $177B pension pool to wider investments (BBG)
Big banks engaged in 'debanking' of disfavored industries (RT)
Zuckerberg is personally spearheading Meta's pivot to profitable AI (BBG)
Intel's new CEO pursued deals that boosted his fortune (RT)
Google named insider Amin Vahdat as new chief of AI infrastructure (RT)
Coca-Cola named COO Henrique Braun as new CEO (CNBC)
SpaceX IPO would make Musk the world's first trillionaire (BBG)
Bezos and Musk are racing to bring data centers to space (WSJ)
A Message from Vanta
Achieving SOC 2 compliance can help you win bigger deals, enter new markets and deepen trust with your customers — but it can also cost you real time and money.
Vanta automates up to 90% of the work for SOC 2 (along with other in-demand frameworks like ISO 27001 and HIPAA), getting you audit-ready in weeks instead of months and saving you up to 85% of associated costs.
Innovators like LangChain, Writer, and Cursor scaled faster and closed bigger deals by getting security right early with Vanta.
Download Vanta's SOC 2 checklist to learn more about the process and the road ahead.
Deal Flow
M&A / Investments
Paramount Skydance is urging shareholders to support is $108B hostile takeover bid for Warner Bros. Discovery; Trump says a WBD deal should include the sale of CNN
Blackstone agreed to acquire utility-parts maker MacLean Power Systems and merge it with PortCo Power Grid Components at a $4B valuation
Chinese investment firm HSG is nearing a deal to buy luxury Italian sneaker maker Golden Goose from UK PE firm Permira at a $3B valuation
Apollo and Canada's Capital Power Corp. struck a $3B deal to acquire in US gas-fired power plants
Dutch payments firm Mollie is set to complete its acquisition of UK fintech GoCardless at a potential $1.5B valuation
Professional services giant WTW agreed to acquire brokerage firm Newfront in a $1.3B cash-and-stock deal
Vista Equity-backed UK financial software firm Finastra is seeking to sell its US mid-size banks unit for over $200M
$145M UK-listed gambling group Evoke is exploring a sale
PE firm Kingswood Capital agreed to acquire French aircraft engine-maker Safran's in-flight entertainment and connectivity unit
Software giant UST will acquire a majority stake in Italian design and engineering firm Italdesign Giugiaro from Volkswagen's Audi
Barclays is buying a stake in a European enterprise fintech United Fintech
Payments fintech Stripe will acqui-hire Polychain Capital and Diddy-backed crypto-wallet startup Valora
VC
Geothermal company Fervo Energy raised $462M from B Capital, Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Google, CalSTRS, and more
IPO / Direct Listings / Issuances / Block Trades
Activist hedge fund Elliott increased its stake in Toyota Industries by $1.7B to 5.01%, raising pressure on Toyota, which plans to buyout Toyota Industries
BlackRock will sell $2.1B of shares in Spanish gas utility Naturgy to reduce its stake from 19% to 12%
Indian food delivery firm Swiggy's $1.1B FPO saw demand from global investors including Fidelity, BlackRock, Temasek, Capital Group, SBI Funds, and ICICI Prudential Asset Management
Welsh Carson-backed diagnostic imaging provider Lumexa raised $462M at a $1.7B valuation in an IPO
Infrastructure services firm Cardinal raised $240M at an $850M valuation in an IPO
Debt
University of California raised $2.2B in munis months after delaying the sale due to Trump and Newsom's feud
Bankruptcy / Restructuring / Distressed
Hedge fund creditors holding $1.1B of debt in Fortress-backed Florida high-speed rail Brightline are crafting a plan to elevate their claims over others by offering new financing and concessions
Bankrupt subprime auto lender Tricolor will sue founder Daniel Chu for fraud that led to its collapse; DOJ and SEC are already investigating Chu
Colombia's largest gas producer Canacol secured $67M in DIP financing as it works to restructure debt
UK healthy fast-food chain Leon is set to enter administration, as new owner and co-founder John Vincent lays out turnaround plans
Fundraising / Secondaries
Temasek-backed Singapore investment firm SeaTown Holdings raised $900M for its third Asia-focused private credit fund
LBP AM, the asset manager of France's La Banque Postale, raised $525M for a European private credit fund
NEA spin-out NewView Capital plans to raise $500M for its fourth VC secondaries fund
Portuguese sports investment firm APEX is seeking to raise a $350M fund to make minority investments in European small and mid-size sports assets
Crypto Sum Snapshot
Michael Saylor slams MSCI plan to bar crypto-heavy firms from indexes
Senate rushes to finish crypto market bill ahead of holiday recess
Crypto Sum compiles the most important stories on everything crypto. Read it here.
Exec’s Picks
Fintech feeling a little WTF lately? Check out Plaid's 2025 Fintech Effect report. Packed with insights from 2,000+ US consumers, it breaks down the next wave of users, the latest adoption trends, and how AI is reshaping financial experiences – so you can plan for what's next.
'Big Short' investor Michael Burry requested pictures of warehoused Nvidia GPUs after @kakashiii111 published an analysis that cast doubt on Nvidia's GPU shipment numbers. Follow the thread here.
Paramount published a letter urging WBD shareholders to accept Paramount's hostile takeover bid at $30/share. Read the full letter here.
Financial Services Recruiting 💼
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We aim to place strong candidates across private equity, hedge funds, venture capital, growth equity, credit, and investment banking.
We're currently seeking talent for some incredible roles. Head over to Litney Partners to drop your resume / create your profile and we'd love to get in touch!
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*DISCLAIMER: Investment advice provided by Autopilot Advisers, LLC ("Autopilot"), an SEC-registered investment adviser. Past performance does not guarantee future results. Investing carries risks, including loss of principal. As always, be smart out there. Litquidity is compensated to promote AutoPilot. Compensation details available upon request.