US stocks rose further yesterday on strong economic data and easing US-Greenland tensions

US investment-grade corporate spreads tightened to 71 bps to the lowest since 1998

Japan 30Y yield fell 10 bps to 3.62% to recover losses from a historic selloff 

Gold, silver, and platinum surged to fresh ATHs

Dollar is at a YTD low

Aussie dollar rose to a fifteen-month high

Intel swung to a Q4 loss and forecast further pain for Q1 as supply shortages and manufacturing yield issues constrained shipments (WSJ)

Capital One missed Q4 earnings estimates on higher credit-loss provisions and expenses but beat on revenue and announced a $5.2B acquisition of fintech startup Brex (CNBC)

Procter & Gamble beat Q4 earnings estimates but missed on revenue and lowered its FY outlook on weak demand in razors and diapers (CNBC)

GE Aerospace beat Q4 earnings and revenue estimates with orders surging 74% on resilient air travel, but issued a disappointing FY outlook (BBG)

What we're watching this week:  

Full calendar here

Trump said an armada is headed towards Iran. A regime change is not off the table.

Trade your insights on the world's largest prediction market: Polymarket.

Venezuela lawmakers back capitalist oil sector reforms (FT)

Trafigura sold first Venezuelan crude under US-Venezuela supply deal (RT)

US Q3 GDP growth was revised up to 4.4% YoY (RT)

India's holdings of US Treasuries fell to a five-year low (BBG)

Trump sued JPMorgan and Jamie Dimon for $5B for 'debanking' (WSJ)

JPMorgan raised Jamie Dimon's 2025 pay package by 10% to $43M (WSJ)

Japan bond wipeout was triggered by just $280M of trading (BBG)

Selling Treasuries looks symbolic if European funds keep stocks (BBG)

Hedge fund inflows rose by $116B to a record $5T AUM last year (BBG)

BlackRock's EM ETF is set for a record monthly inflow amid US exits (BBG)

Private credit investors are cashing out in droves (WSJ)

Private credit firms are pushing new funds to tap retiree money (BBG)

US regional banks race to high-grade debt market for funding (BBG)

Europe turns to short-term borrowing as pension funds retreat (FT)

China is lending to the Gulf at record pace (BBG)

Singapore began allocating $4B to boost local stocks (BBG)

Woman-led hedge fund Avala gained 20% for a third-straight year (BBG)

BofA and Citigroup are weighing new cards capped at 10% (BBG)

Ford and GM get regulatory approval to set up banking units (FT)

Trump does not plan to open 401(k)s for buying homes (RT)

Jared Kushner set out $30B vision for 'New Gaza' (FT)

Musk is diving back into US politics (WSJ)

US is actively seeking regime change in Cuba by year-end (WSJ)

Paramount Skydance extended its $108B tender offer for Warner Bros. Discovery to February 20 and urged investors to vote against a proposed $83B sale to Netflix

TikTok-owner ByteDance finalized a $14B deal to establish a JV owned by Oracle, PE firm Silver Lake, Abu Dhabi's MGX, and other global investors that will secure US TikTok data to avoid a ban; ByteDance will retain a 20% stake

Activist hedge fund Elliott raised its stake in $36B-listed Toyota Industries to 6.7% as it pushes for a sweetened offer in Toyota's take-private bid

A consortium led by France's Bouygues Telecom entered due diligence on telecoms group Altice's French unit, weighing a $23.4B bid after an earlier offer was rejected in October

$9B-listed UK cyber insurer Beazley rejected a fifth takeover offer from Switzerland's Zurich Insurance that valued the firm at $10.3B

Global foods giant Nestlé is seeking first-round bids for a stake sale of its $5.9B water business, with PAI Partners, Blackstone, KKR, Bain Capital, and CD&R showing interest 

Capital One agreed to acquire enterprise credit card startup Brex in a $5.15B cash-and-stock deal

Arise Digital Technologies agreed to acquire Norwegian state-owned telecom giant Telenor's 25% stake in Thai operator True for $3.9B

European PE firm EQT agreed to acquire UK secondaries giant Coller Capital in a $3.7B deal

India's largest pharma firm Sun Pharmaceutical Industries is weighing a bid to acquire $2.5B-US listed wellness company Organon

Clorox agreed to buy hand sanitizer maker GOJO in a $2.25B cash deal

UK insurer Prudential agreed to buy an additional 19% stake in in Malaysia life insurer Sri Han Suria, the holding company of Prudential Assurance Malaysia, for $377M to raise its stake to 70%

South African lender Nedbank Group will acquire 66% stake in Kenyan peer NCBA Group in an $860M cash-and-stock deal at a significant premium

LVMH-linked PE firm L Catterton is in talks to acquire Portuguese resort Penha Longa Resort & Hotel from Carlyle for $164M

PayPal agreed to acquire agentic commerce company Cymbio

Italian yacht maker Ferretti's largest shareholder Weichai rejected a partial bid from second-largest owner KKCG Maritime

Louisiana personal injury law firm Dudley DeBosier will spin off some assets into a separate unit and sell a stake in the new unit to PE firm Uplift Investors

JPMorgan acquired UK-based pensions technology platform WealthOS

Fei-Fei Li's 3D-modeling AI startup World Labs is in talks to raise a $500M round at a $5B valuation

European hospitality OS provider Mews raised a $300M Series D led by EQT Growth Neurophos, a leader in photonic AI chip technology, raised a $110M Series A led by Gates Frontier

LiveKit, a real-time voice and computer-vision infrastructure startup, raised a $100M Series C led by Index Ventures 

Zebedee, a Lightning-powered gaming payments company, raised a $40M Series C led by Blockstream Capital Partners

Famous Labs, an AI vibe-coding platform, raised a $20M pre-seed round at a $330M post-money valuation led by Impellent Ventures

Real-time data streaming startup Artie raised a $12M Series A led by Standard Capital

Musk's SpaceX lined up Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, and Morgan Stanley to lead a potential $30B IPO at a $1.5T valuation, the biggest IPO of all time

Sparkling drinks maker Chi Forest is considering a Hong Kong IPO; the firm was last valued at $15B in 2021

Walmart-backed Indian payments fintech PhonePe is set to raise $1.5B at a $15B valuation in India's biggest IPO since October

Crypto firm BitGo raised $213M at a $2.2B market value in an IPO priced above a marketed range

Consumer goods company Mammoth Brands is weighing an IPO

China's Alibaba is preparing to IPO its chipmaking arm T-Head

Energy infrastructure developer Hecate agreed to merge ​with EGH Acquisition in a $1.2B deal

Nuclear energy startup General Fusion will merge with Spring Valley Acquisition Corp. III in a $1B deal

State-run Korea Development Bank raised $3B in a global bond sale

European PE firm CVC is looking to raise $3.2B of debt against its sports franchise Global Sports Group

Tailored Brands, the parent of retailer Men's Wearhouse, boosted its loan and junk bond offerings to $1.1B to fund an even bigger dividend recap to owner Silver Point Capital

Hong Kong mall operator Lifestyle International is in talks with banks to refinance a $1B loan

Benin raised $850M in Africa's first dollar bond sale of the year

Democratic Republic of Congo is seeking to raise $750M in its first international bond sale

Auction house Sotheby's is seeking to raise $600M in an ABS sale backed by art loans

Private credit giant HPS invested $50M in Malaysian logistics firm Teleport in its first Asia deal since being acquired by BlackRock

Distressed-debt giants Oaktree and Anchorage Capital bought stakes in the distressed $1.1B DIP debt of bankrupt auto parts supplier First Brands Group

Malaysia's AirAsia X is targeting a $500M-$600M debt restructuring after combining two of its airlines

Investment firm Castlelake entered talks to buy bankrupt airline Spirit as rival Frontier's bid is deemed unviable

Distressed Chinese developer Vanke is preparing one of China's biggest-ever restructurings 

Plxsur, the UK vaping company that once boasted $1B in revenue, was acquired out of administration for $100k

VC investor Pinegrove Opportunity Partners raised $2.2B for its debut fund to focus on VC secondaries

Nexedge Capital, the Indian multi-family office of ex-Citigroup exec Anirudha Taparia, raised $2B in assets in less than one year

Carlyle's secondaries unit AlpInvest and the asset management unit of Eldridge Industries raised $1.5B for an inaugural joint diversified credit fund

Swiss VC Vi Partners is seeking to raise $190M for its latest fund to focus on Series A and early-stage investments across technology and healthcare

UK VC Flashpoint is seeking to raise $100M for its second direct secondaries fund

Multi-strat giant Millennium is carving out a dedicated credit trading unit from its fixed income business

FTX fraudster Caroline Ellison was released from federal custody

Investors pulled over $700M from US-listed Bitcoin ETFs

Bitwise and ​Proficio Capital Partners launched an ETF to target alternatives to currencies 

Stablecoins could put competitive pressure on monetary frameworks

Bloomberg published an updated illustration to make sense of the circular AI deal wave.

WSJ published a profile on Dana White's UFC empire and its over-arching influence from sports to politics. Read it here.