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Good Morning,

S&P 500 index funds saw the highest inflows ever in April, hedge funds delivered strong returns in last month's market chaos, LPs are increasingly borrowing against their PE holdings, and China is assessing potential trade talks with US.

The Wharton Online-Wall Street Prep Private Equity Certificate Program is back! Level up your PE skillset in the globally acclaimed Private Equity Certificate Program and save with our Litquidity discount! Learn more below.

Let's dive in.

Before The Bell

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Markets

• US stocks rallied yesterday as investors digested major corporate earnings

  • S&P rose for an eighth-straight day in its best streak since August

  • S&P fell for a third-straight month despite a late-April recovery

  • Traders priced in 91 bps of Fed cuts this year

• Europe's Stoxx 600 fell for a second-straight month despite a late-April recovery 

  • The index is up 3.3% YTD

• UK's FTSE 100 rose for a thirteenth-straight day for its best streak since 2017.

• EM stocks recovered virtually all losses since 'Liberation Day'

• US yields spiked as factory data spurred a pullback on rate-cut bets

• High-yield munis lost 1.8% in their worst month since 2023

• Bitcoin broke a 10-week high

Earnings

• Apple beat Q2 earnings and revenue estimates on strong iPhone, Mac, and iPad sales and limited impacts to supply chains but said it's 'very difficult' to predict tariff costs beyond June (CNBC)

• Amazon beat Q1 earnings and revenue estimates as a 19% YoY increase in ad revenue offset declining growth in its AWS cloud unit, though the firm issued weak Q2 guidance amid tariff and consumer spending uncertainty (CNBC)

• McDonald's beat Q1 earnings estimates but missed on revenue as US same-store sales fell 3.6% in the largest drop since Covid; they reiterated its FY outlook (CNBC)

• Mastercard beat Q1 earnings and revenue estimates on resilient US consumer spending remained, benefiting from wage growth and a strong labor market and a 15% rise in cross-border volume (RT)

• CVS beat Q1 earnings and revenue estimates and hiked FY earnings guidance as its troubled insurance business showed some improvement; the firm did not guide on FY revenue amid higher medical costs and macro headwinds (CNBC)

• Airbnb met Q1 earnings expectations but missed revenue and issued a disappointing Q2 revenue forecast amid softness in Canada-US travel and broader economic uncertainties (CNBC)

• Reddit beat Q1 earnings and revenue estimates and issues strong guidance on strong user growth as a sluggish economy meant 'business as usual' (CNBC)

• KKR beat Q1 earnings estimates on strong fee-related and investing income, with $19B deployed and $13B in deals lined up; total AUM rose 15% to $664B on the heels of credit fundraising (BBG)

• Eli Lilly beat Q1 earnings and revenue estimates on strong demand for its blockbuster Zepbound and Mounjaro drugs but cut its FY profit outlook due to rising R&D costs and its acquisition of Scorpion Therapeutics (CNBC)

• What we're watching this week:  

  • Today: ExxonMobil, Chevron, Brookfield, Apollo

• Full calendar here

Prediction Markets

• Pope succession race is pretty tight.

• Trade your predictions on a range of events, only on Kalshi. Sign up with code LIT and get a $20 bonus when you trade $100.

Headline Roundup

• China is assessing US trade talks (BBG)

• Bessent says US 2Y yields are signaling Fed to cut (BBG)

• DOGE wants to examine Fed's $2.5B renovation costs (BBG)

• Fed bank reserves dropped to $3T to YTD low (BBG)

• Big LPs are borrowing against PE holdings amid liquidity crunch (FT)

• Foreign funds are losing appetite for US corporate bonds (BBG)

• PIKs return as Europe junk debt demand soars (BBG) 

• Berkshire outshines market as Buffett reaches 60 years in charge (RT)

• Multi-strat hedge funds turned positive amid April volatility (BBG)

• All of Citadel funds gained in April (WSJ)

• AQR L/S strategy extended gains to 12.1% YTD (BBG)

• Third Point expects to boost credit exposure amid dislocations (BBG)

• Norway's $1.8T SWF plans to cut trading costs by 20% with AI (FT)

• Nasdaq plan will bring 0DTE option boom closer to single stocks (BBG)

• World's biggest S&P 500 ETF drew record inflows in April (BBG) 

• Charles Schwab warned thousands at risk of margin calls amid volatility (BBG)

• Nvidia CEO urged US to change rules for AI chip exports (BBG)

• Kohl's fired its CEO after funneling business to a romantic partner (WSJ)

• Live Nation expects a record summer concert season (WSJ)

A Message from Wall Street Prep

Eyeing a Move or a Promotion? Here’s How to Stand Out in Private Equity

With deals moving faster and firms tightening their standards, staying competitive means going beyond what you already know. 

The Private Equity Certificate Program from Wharton Online and Wall Street Prep teaches the concepts and technical methods used to evaluate investment opportunities.

Beyond learning skills from the top instructors on Wall Street, you’ll hear from leading industry executives like David Rubenstein, Co-founder of The Carlyle Group, and Martin Brand, Sr. Managing Director at Blackstone. 

Enroll by May 12 – additional benefits include:

• Invite-only networking and recruiting events

• Weekly office hours and dedicated support

• Certificate issued by Wharton Online and Wall Street Prep

Get $200 off tuition + $300 more with code LITQUIDITY. That's $500 in savings when you enroll by May 12.

Deal Flow

M&A / Investments

• Turkish video game developer Dream Games raised $2.5B in equity funding from CVC and debt financing from Blackstone at a $5B valuation

• Brazilian O&G firm Prio will acquire a 60% stake in Brazil's Peregrino oil field from Norway's Equinor for $3.5B

• Japan's Meiji, France's Lactalis, Canada's Saputo, and PE firm Warburg Pincus are considering bids for peer dairy giant Fonterra's $2.4B global consumer businesses

• Consumer-focused PE firm Brynwood Partners will acquire canned pasta-maker Chef Boyardee from foods group Conagra for $600M

• Entertainment tycoon Ari Emanuel agreed to acquire influential art organization Frieze Art Group from Endeavor at a potential $200M valuation

• PE firm Great Hill Partners agreed to take a minority stake in $10B AUM SoCal-based RIA Mission Wealth

VC

• Healthcare technology startup Persivia raised a $107M recapitalization from Aldrich Capital Partners

• Astronomer, a unified DataOps platform powered by Apache Airflow, raised a $93M Series D led by Bain Capital Ventures

• Rogo, a GenAI for finance, raised a $50M Series B at a $350M valuation led by Thrive Capital

• Hilo, a startup developing an ML model for blood pressure, raised a $42M Series B co-led by Earlybird Health and Wellington Partners

• Copy trading app dub raised a $30M Series A led by Notable Capital and Neo

• Phoenix Tailings, a rare earth metals refining company, raised a $33M Series B led by Envisioning Partners

• Zoe, a digital end-to-end wealth platform connecting RIAs and investors, raised a $30M Series B led by Sageview Capital

• QbDVision, a digital CMC platform for the life sciences industry, raised a $13M Series A led by Northpond Ventures and S3 Ventures

• Dinari, a startup allowing users to buy shares in major US companies and funds through dShares, raised a $12.7M Series A led by Hack VC and Blockchange Ventures

• EdgeRunner AI, a leader in domain-specific, air-gapped, on-device AI agents for military and enterprise, raised a $12M Series A led by Madrona Ventures

• Mivium, a startup building a semiconductor material science platform, raised a $5M round in crowdfunding

• Virtual leasing platform Peek raised a $5M Series A led by Moneta Ventures

IPO / Direct Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

• Strategy, the biggest corporate holder of Bitcoin, announced a $21B equity offering

• Investment firm JAB is seeking to raise $2.5B in a share sale of Keurig Dr Pepper

• Franklin Templeton, the asset manager which took over as manager of the Uzbekistan National Investment Fund, is aiming to list $1.7B of Uzbekistan's state assets on international markets 

• Irish bank AIB shareholders approved a $1.4B buyback from Ireland, moving closer to full private ownership

• Activist hedge fund Third Point acquired a meaningful stake in US Steel and expects the $14.1B takeover by Nippon Steel to proceed

• Mining giant Rio Tinto fended off activist Palliser's push to review its dual UK and Australia listing structure

Debt

• Citigroup sold $5.35B of bonds capping big banks' bond deals

• District of Columbia's $1.5B munis sale was 4x oversubscribed, allowing DC to lower yields

• Non-profit financial services firm Thrivent sold $1.2B of debt backed by cash flows from its FOF, to free up liquidity for private market funds

• Blue Owl-owned data center operator Stack Infrastructure is seeking an $833M loan to fund data center growth in Australia

Bankruptcy / Restructuring / Distressed

• Brazil's Gol Airlines raised $125M in financing, aiding its Chapter 11 exit by June, totaling $1.38B in bankruptcy funding

• Canadian battery recycling firm Li-Cycle is seeking buyers after a potential sale to mining giant Glencore fell through, raising risks of insolvency

Fundraising

• Apollo raised $5.4B for a debut secondaries fund

• Ares raised $3B for a secondaries fund from HNWIs which will offer quarterly liquidity

• Power Corp. of Canada’s climate-focused alternative asset manager Power Sustainable raised $330M for a new PE fund 

• VC Uncork Capital raised $300M across two funds focused on seed and growth 

• Golf pro Rory McIlroy partnered with TPG to launch a new sports investment fund, with a UAE-based investment firm anchoring the fund

Crypto Sum Snapshot

• Crypto VC fundraising is springing back to life (TI)

• Morgan Stanley plans to offer crypto trading to E*Trade clients

• Crypto industry descends on Dubai as Trump euphoria recedes

• Strategy doubled Bitcoin buying capital plan to $84M (BBG)

• Check out our Crypto Sum newsletter for the full stories on everything crypto!

Exec’s Picks

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  *This is a paid advertisement for Boxabl's Regulation A offering. Please read the offering circular here. This is a message from Boxabl.

• Despite the recent selloff, US stock valuations are still not 'cheap.'

Financial Services Recruiting 💼

If you're a junior banker looking for your next career move, check out Litney Partners, a recruiting firm established by Litquidity and Whitney Partners (the oldest purely financial services executive search and consulting firm).

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.