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Good Morning,

Rishi Sunak will be the new UK Prime Minister, US and Euro zone business activity is contracting, China's GDP grew at a faster-than-expected rate in Q3, Chinese stocks tanked as Xi has an iron grip on the country, Apple raised its Apple TV+ and Apple Music prices, Tesla cut car prices in China, and TikTok denied that it could track user locations in the US.

Let's dive in.

Before The Bell

Markets

• US stocks rose across the board as signs of a cooling US economy raised hopes of slower Fed rate hikes

  • The pan-European Stoxx 600 index rose 1.14%, with investors bracing for the ECB's interest rate decision on Thursday 

  • Hong Kong stocks fell 6.4% while the Shanghai Index dropped 2% on news of Xi Jinping's third confirmed term

• The dollar edged higher despite another suspected FX intervention by Japan, the pound was choppy on news of Rishi Sunak becoming UK PM, and China's offshore yuan fell to a record low

• Oil prices eased on lackluster Chinese demand data and a strong dollar

Earnings

• Philips beat Q3 EPS estimates but missed on revenue amid operational and supply challenges and a ~$1.3B writedown on its respiratory business due to legal issues; their stock fell ~1.4% yesterday (FT)

• What we're watching this week: 

  • Today: Alphabet, Visa, Spotify, UPS

  • Wednesday: Boeing, Meta, Hilton

  • Thursday: Credit Suisse, Apple, Amazon, Shopify, McDonald's

  • Friday: ExxonMobil

• Full calendar here

Headline Roundup

• Former Boris Johnson finance minister Rishi Sunak will become UK's PM (RT)

• US Treasury is taking steps to strengthen Treasury debt market resilience and private money market and bond funds (RT)

• US business activity contracted for a fourth straight month in October (RT)

• Euro zone business activity is contracting at the fastest pace in nearly two years this month (RT)

• UK sovereign and private CDS fell on news of new UK PM (RT)

• Affordability pressures and inflation are holding back tenants, forcing landlords to ease off big increases (BBG)

• China's GDP grew at a higher-than-expected 3.9% YoY in Q3 (RT)

• US-listed Chinese stocks dropped 15% to a one year low in response to Xi Jinping's tightened grip on power (CNBC)

• China's oil imports from Russia soared 22% in September YoY (RT)

• Leftwing Dems urge Biden to hold direct talks with Putin (FT)

• Apple raised subscription prices for Apple TV+ and Apple Music (CNBC)

• Tesla cut car prices in China by ~9% on falling costs and strong competition (WSJ)

• TikTok denied it could use location information to track US users (CNBC)

• Warner Bros Discovery says charges from content cuts could reach $2.5B (FT)

• German utility provider Uniper shut down 50% of HQ to save gas (RT)

• Credit Suisse will pay $234M to end French tax probe (RT)

• Philips will lay off ~4k employees or 5% of their workforce amid falling sales (RT)

• GM will launch its return to work plan for salaried workers in January (RT)

• Japan's economic minister stepped down over controversial church links (RT)

A Message From CUTS

Dress Like An Exec 

No, not pinstriped suits and a banker collars a lá Frank Reynolds. 

We mean the cool, clean, and crazy-comfortable aesthetic that today’s leaders are rocking, courtesy of CUTS.

For those not in the fashion loop, CUTS originally changed the whole damn workleisure game by creating the perfect T-shirt that was the ideal combination of style and comfort. After their massive success, CUTS expanded into everything from polos and sweatshirts into joggers, jackets, and beyond. 

What makes CUTS so great? Simple: They look good, they fit – and feel – great, and they work everywhere that you do, whether that’s the office, the coffee shop, or the bar (hint: it’s usually the bar). 

Revamp your wardrobe and start dressing like an Exec right here.

Deal Flow

M&A / Investments

• A consortium led by Japan Industrial Partners is considering buying and taking private Japanese industrial conglomerate Toshiba at a ~$16.1B valuation (BBG)

• EU antitrust regulators will clear Marlboro maker Philip Morris’ $16B bid for Swedish Match after it offered to sell the latter’s logistics unit (RT)

• A consortium of Abu Dhabi state-backed entities, including wealth fund ADQ and real estate developer Aldar Properties, is considering an offer for a stake in Dubai-based private school operator GEMS Education at a potential ~$6B valuation (BBG)

• Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund offered to buy a 51% stake in the telecom towers unit of Saudi Telecom at a $5.8B valuation (BBG)

• Italian insurer Assicurazioni Generali is making progress in its talks to buy US investment firm Guggenheim Partners’ asset management business at an up to $4B valuation, with a potential formal bid coming by the end of the year (BBG)

• Sumitovant Biopharma, a fully-owned subsidiary of Sumitomo Pharma, agreed to buy the 48% of drugmaker Myovant Sciences it doesn’t already own for $1.7B (BBG)

• Brookfield Business Partners is reviving a sale of UK-based biofuel provider Greenergy which may fetch ~$1.4B (BBG)

• Bain Capital is among firms considering a bid for Indian polyester film manufacturer Polyplex which could be valued at $1B+ (BBG)

• Amazon was offered warrants allowing them to buy up to 15% in the parent of Hawaiian Airlines as part of a deal to expand Amazon’s cargo-hauling operations (BBG)

VC

• Molecular cartography startup Resolve Biosciences raised a $71M Series B led by Patient Square Capital (BW)

• Merge, a startup offering an API integration service, raised a $55M Series B led by Accel (TC)

• Electronic Caregiver, a digital health company, raised $42.5M in funding from existing investors (PRN)

• Proemion, a German startup creating hardware-enabled software solutions to connect mobile machines with themselves, humans, and the cloud, raised $33M in funding from Battery Ventures (BW)

• WeTravel, a startup building payment solutions for group travel, raised a $27M Series B at a ~$100M valuation led by Left Lane Capital (TC)

• Fermyon, a startup building tools for cloud app development, raised a $20M Series A led by Insight Partners (TC)

• Neurotechnology startup Wispr raised a $10M debt / equity seed-2 round led by Neo, Triple Point Capital, MVP Ventures, and more (PRN)

• Spaceship manufacturer Apex emerged from stealth with $7.5M in funding led by a16z (BW)

• InfinyOn, a real-time event streaming startup, raised a $5M seed round led by Gradient Ventures and Fly Ventures (PRN)

• Paragraph, a web3 native publishing platform, raised a $1.7M pre-seed round led by Lemniscap (PRN)

SPAC

• Low-cost Canadian airline Flair Airlines is in talks to merge with New Vista Acquisition Corp. (BBG)

Debt

• South Korea's Mirae Asset Financial Group is in talks to commit $208M to help finance Elon Musk's $44B buyout of Twitter (RT)

Restructuring

• Juul is in talks with two of its biggest investors on a bailout that could help them stave off a bankruptcy filing (WSJ)

Fundraising

• Bain Capital raised $2B+ for its latest Tech Opportunities Fund and plans to use part of the investment to expand dealmaking in Europe (BBG)

Crypto Corner

• Bitcoin’s volatility fell below Nasdaq and S&P 500′s for first time since 2020 (CNBC)

• Crypto exchange Binance is ‘narrowing down’ identity of hacker behind $570M crypto attack (CNBC)

• Four US states ordered metaverse casino Slotie to halt NFT sales (CNBC)

Exec's Picks

• Thanks to Titan, non-accredited investors can now invest in VC, real estate, and private credit funds managed by top-tier Wall Street investment firms. And, minimums start at $500, not $50,000. Real estate and credit are where consistent, steady income is the name of the game, and returns have historically been largely uncorrelated with equity or crypto markets. It’s time to buckle down and diversify, so check out Titan today.

• Altimeter Capital's Brad Gerstner wrote an open letter to Meta and Mark Zuckerberg asking that they pull back spending on the metaverse and double down on their efforts elsewhere.

• This WSJ article shows the strategies that different companies have implemented to navigate inflation.

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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