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Good Morning,

Rio Tinto hired banks to work on a historic $260B Glencore merger, Greenland ruled out joining the US, JPMorgan's earnings disappointed, the Clintons refused to testify in Congress' Epstein investigation, and Anthropic's new coding agent is taking social media by storm.

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Let's dive in.

Before The Bell

As of 1/13/2026 market close.

Learn more about the Litquidity portfolios and subscribe to the strategies on Autopilot.*

Markets

  • US stocks fell as investors parsed inflation data and JPMorgan's bellwether earnings for clues on the economy

    • Options traders are raising bets of zero Fed rate cuts this year

  • Munis are up 0.75% YTD in a typical 'January effect'

  • Korean won is down 2% YTD after weakening for a ninth day for its longest losing streak since 2008 as local degens continue investing abroad

  • Danish krone is getting close to its 'historical defense zone' of 7.48/€ amid Trump's Greenland threats

Earnings

  • JPMorgan beat Q4 earnings and revenue estimates on strong trading, though IB fees fell 5% and profit fell 7% due to a one-time Apple Card charge (CNBC)

  • Delta Airlines missed Q4 revenue estimates but beat on earnings as premium demand continues to surge (CNBC)

  • What we're watching this week:  

    • Today: Wells Fargo, Citigroup, Bank of America, Infosys

    • Thursday: TSMC, BlackRock, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley

    • Friday: State Street, PNC

  • Full calendar here

Prediction Markets

  • Trump signaled support for the toppling of Iran's regime as protests get violent

  • Trade your prediction on regime changes on Polymarket

Headline Roundup

  • Clintons refused to testify in Congress Epstein investigation (FT)

  • Central banks and Wall Street CEOs back J Pow amid investigation (RT)

  • Jamie Dimon warned against attacking Fed independence (WSJ) 

  • Greenland ruled out joining the US (BBG)

  • Exxon is still interested in Venezuela despite Trump rebuke (RT)

  • US CPI growth slowed to 2.6% (CNBC)

  • US deficit shrank to $1.7T last year on record tariff revenue (BBG)

  • China trade surplus hit a record $1.2T (CNBC)

  • Wall Street expects strong Q4 earnings on robust US economy (RT)

  • Basis trade has ballooned to $1.5T (BBG)

  • US biotech share sales hit $2.5B YTD in its best since 2021 (BBG)

  • UBS CEO Ermotti will step down next year after Credit Suisse integration (FT)

  • HRT trading revenue hit a record $12.3B in 2025 (BBG)

  • Kirkland & Ellis was accused of conflict in PE spat (BBG)

  • China is probing foreigner's ETF trading after Jane Street India case (BBG)

  • CME will shift precious metals margin settings as prices swing (BBG)

  • VC Balderton Capital is up over 200,000% on its Revolut bet (FT)

  • BlackRock will cut ~1% of jobs (RT)

  • US gave green light to Nvidia H200 chip exports to China (RT)

  • Anthropic's new Cowork tool offers Claude Code without the code (TC)

  • Microsoft rolled out initiative to curb data center energy and water usage (RT)

  • Fanatics will launch a sports media and entertainment studio (CNBC)

  • Trump said 'help is on its way' for Iranian protesters (FT)

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Deal Flow

M&A / Investments

  • Mining giant Rio Tinto hired Evercore, JPMorgan, and Macquarie for its historic $260B merger with rival Glencore

  • Netflix revised terms for its $83B Warner Bros. Discovery acquisition and proposed making an all-cash offer for their studios and streaming businesses

  • Canadian asset manager CI Global will acquire Invesco's $19B Canadian asset management business

  • Eli Lilly is preparing a $17.5B bid for French biotech Abivax

  • Australian pension Aware Super acquired a 31.3% stake in European Outlet Mall Venture from PIMCO-managed Allianz accounts; the platform owns four outlet centers valued at $3B

  • Regional lender U.S. Bancorp will acquire brokerage BTIG in a $1B cash and stock deal

  • Warburg Pincus is considering a $1B sale of UK specialist insurance broker McGill and Partners

  • French media group Banijay is in talks to merge its TV production business with rival All3Media; All3Media was valued at $1.5B in a sale last year

  • Crypto data platform CoinGecko is exploring a $500M sale

  • Blockchain firm Polygon agreed to buy crypto payments company Coinme and crypto infrastructure provider ​Sequence for over $250M

  • Africa-focused investment firm Silverbacks is in talks with the NBA to buy a Basketball Africa League franchise

  • UK brewer Diageo is considering divesting its China assets, including its 63% stake in China-listed Sichuan Swellfun

  • German consumer chemicals firm Symrise is in advanced talks to sell its terpenes business

VC

  • AI command-software startup Onebrief raised a $220M Series D at a $2.15B valuation led by Battery Ventures and Sapphire Ventures

  • JetZero, an all-wing aircraft startup, raised a $175M Series B led by B Capital  

  • Defense Unicorns, an airgap software platform for military systems, raised a $136M Series B at a $1B valuation led by Bain Capital

  • Voice-AI platform Deepgram raised a $130M Series C at a $1.3B valuation led by AVP

  • Proxima, an AI-driven proximity therapeutics startup, raised an $80M seed round led by DCVC 

  • Wasabi Technologies, a hot cloud storage provider, raised a $70M round led by L2 Point Management

  • WitnessAI, an enterprise AI security platform, raised a $58M round led by Sound Ventures

  • WithCoverage, an AI-enabled risk-management platform, raised a $42M Series B led by Sequoia Capital and Khosla Ventures  

  • AI-drug-discovery startup Converge Bio raised a $25M Series A led by Bessemer Venture Partners

  • WeatherPromise, an AI weather-guarantee platform for travel and events, raised a $12.8M Series A led by Maveron 

  • Protein-engineering startup Nuclera raised a $12M Series C extension led by Elevage Medical Technologies and Jonathan Milner

  • Quantum-software startup Haiqu raised an $11M seed round led by Primary Venture Partners 

  • The 33rd Team, a football analytics and AI technology startup, raised an eight-figure Series B from Liberty Media, FORTA Advisors, Gary Vaynerchuk, and others

  • NetBird, a European open-source Zero Trust networking startup, raised a $10M Series A led by Pace Capital

  • Battery-printing startup MATERIAL raised a $7.1 MM round co-led by Outlander VC and Harpoon Ventures

Get real-time updates on any startup, VC, or sector. Try Fundable.

IPO / Direct Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

  • European defense giant Czechoslovak Group is preparing to launch an Amsterdam IPO at a $35B valuation

  • Construction tech firm EquipmentShare.com is seeking to raise $777M at a $6.4B valuation in its IPO

  • Austrian crypto trading platform Bitpanda is eyeing a Germany IPO at a $4.7B-$5.8B valuation

  • Blackstone-backed mobile ad company Liftoff filed for an IPO; the firm was valued at $4.3B in a stake sale last year

  • US is seeking to invest in defense giant L3Harris Technologies' missile unit via a $1B convertible preferred security

  • Copper-based components manufacturer Asta Energy Solutions is considering a Germany IPO at a $582M valuation

  • Indian asset managers SBI Funds and ICICI Prudential bid for half of Indian drugmaker Biocon's $460M institutional share placement

  • General Atlantic-backed Indian digital insurer Acko invited banks to pitch on a potential $350M IPO

SPAC

  • Crypto-friendly lender Old Glory Bank will merge with Digital Asset Acquisition Corp. at a $250M valuation

Debt

  • Apollo is willing to buy more of xAI's $3.5B debt at par as it looks to open trading on Valor Equity Partners' private credit deal

  • Major Ukraine corporates including state rail company Ukrzaliznytsia and state energy company NJSC Naftogaz are looking to delay payments or restructure a combined $3B in debt amid Russian strikes on infrastructure

  • Banks including JPMorgan and Citigroup are in talks to lend Argentinian natural gas producer Pan American Energy $1B

  • Nigeria plans to raise $352M in green bonds

  • Canadian utility Enova Power is preparing to raise $180M in a debut debt sale

  • Colombia sold $5B of dollar-denominated bonds for the first time since April

  • Benin hired Citi, Emirates NBD, HSBC, JPMorgan, and Arqaam Capital to market a potential dollar Sukuk and other debt securities

Bankruptcy / Restructuring / Distressed

  • Venezuela is appealing a Delaware court ruling that awarded Citgo parent PDV to Elliott-affiliate Amber Energy for $5.9B, part of a sale to pay up to $19B in creditor claims

  • Luxury retailer Saks' new CEO Richard Baker is exiting after just two weeks as the firms lines up a $1.75B DIP package for an imminent Chapter 11 bankruptcy

  • Brazil's finance ministry supported Brazil's central bank decision to liquidate Banco Master after warning it may be Brazil's largest banking fraud ever

  • Subprime auto lender Tricolor's founder Daniel Chu and ex-COO David Goodgame pleaded not guilty to fraud charges 

  • Activist Saba Capital is pushing for London-focused flexible office-space provider Workspace to pursue a managed wind-down

  • Vanderbilt University took over the campus of troubled SF-based California College of the Arts that Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang once tried to save

Fundraising / Secondaries

  • Ares raised $7.1B for its debut private credit secondaries strategy, including a $1B JV with Mubadala

  • Nordic energy and infrastructure investor AIP Management raised $2.3B for a targeted $3.5B fifth fund

Crypto Sum Snapshot

  • Open interest in altcoin futures collapsed 55% since October

  • Ex-NYC mayor Eric Adams rug-pulled investors in 'NYCCoin' debut

Crypto Sum compiles the most important stories on everything crypto. Read it here.

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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.

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