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The eurozone economy grew in Q2 after a Q1 decline, traders are bracing for a wave of Treasury sales, the equity-risk premium is at a 20-year-low, the US has a construction worker shortage, companies with high ESG scores are polluting as much as low-score rivals, Exxon is in talks with Tesla and Ford to supply lithium, and SBF may have been behind the $BALD crypto project scandal.

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Let’s dive in.

Before The Bell

Markets

• Stocks rose modestly on Monday as Wall Street kicked off a busy earnings week

  • The S&P closed its fifth-consecutive positive month for the first time since its seven-month streak ended in August 2021

  • The Nasdaq posted its fifth-straight winning month for the first time since April 2021

• The pan-European Stoxx 600 climbed 2% MoM for its second-straight monthly increase

• Germany's DAX continues to trade near all-time highs

• Italy's FTSE MIB touched fresh 15-year highs

• Chinese stocks notched their biggest monthly gain since January

• Chinese yuan is on track for its best monthly performance versus the dollar since January

Earnings

• Yum China beat Q2 estimates after reporting record-breaking Q2 revenue and operating profit as Pizza Hut surpassed 3k stores in China and KFC exceeded 500 stores in Shanghai alone (PRN)

• What we're watching this week:

  • Today: Merck, Pfizer, AMD, Caterpillar, Starbucks, Uber

  • Wednesday: CVS, Shopify, PayPal, Kraft Heinz

  • Thursday: Apple, Amazon, AB InBev

  • Friday: Nikola

• Full calendar here

Headline Roundup

• US stock market rally driven by broad equities in June-July, after 'magnificent seven' dominated January-May rally (FT)

• Eurozone economy grew 0.3% in Q2, after Q1 decline (FT)

• Eurozone inflation slowed to 5.3% in July (CNBC)

• Traders brace for $102B wave of Treasury bond sales (BBG)

• Companies with good ESG scores pollute as much as low-rated rivals (FT)

• VC, CVCs, and PE investors raised 40 funds worth over $3.6B YTD for Indian startups (INC)

• Equity-risk premium fell to the lowest level in 20 years (WSJ)

• US has a 650k construction worker labor shortage (CNBC)

• US banks tightened credit further in Q2 in wake of failures (BBG)

• Banks lean on ‘hot’ deposits to shore up balance sheets (WSJ)

• China home sales fell 33% YoY as slowdown worsens (BBG)

• One-fifth of all malls financed through CMBS are underwater (WSJ)

• Mexico's stronger peso cuts the value of remittances from the US (RT)

• Disney brought back two former execs to help sell ESPN stake (BBG)

• Exxon is in talks with Tesla and Ford to supply lithium (RT)

• X reorganizes trust and safety team under Musk (RT)

• Home insurers are charging more and insuring less (WSJ)

• Lamborghini could hit 10k sales this year (RT)

• Miami sees first population drop in decades (WSJ)

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Deal Flow

M&A / Investments

• TPG and Francisco Partners are taking software firm New Relic private in a $6.5B all-cash deal (RT)

• Cannabis company Cresco Labs terminated its deal to buy rival Columbia Care for $2B (RT)

• PE firm Apax Partners will acquire a co-controlling stake in Spanish healthcare company Palex Medical from investment fund Fremman Capital and minority shareholders at a ~$1B valuation (RT)

• Glencore will buy out its partner Pan American Silver Corp.’s 56.3% stake in Argentina's Mara copper project in a $475M deal (BBG)

• US merchant bank BDT & MSD Partners agreed to buy a minority stake in Italian machinery maker IMA Industria Macchine Automatiche from PE firm BC Partners (BBG)

• Shell resumed talks with Nigerian firm ND Western over a sale of its stake in a Nigerian onshore and shallow-water oil and gas field joint venture (BBG)

• E-scooter and e-bike company Micromobility submitted a non-binding bid to acquire bankrupt Dutch electric bike maker VanMoof Amsterdam (RT)

VC

• Mobile startup Airalo raised a $60M Series B led by e& Capital (TC)

• Carbon Upcycling Technologies, a decarbonization solutions startup for the cement, steel, and mining industries, raised a $26M Series A led by Climate Investment and BDC Capital’s Climate Tech Fund (FN)

• Cybersecurity startup Cyble raised a $24M Series B led by Blackbird Ventures and King River Capital (TC)

• Ground segment services provider for satellite operators Leaf Space raised a $22M Series B led by CDP Venture Capital (FN)

• Home service business management platform Topline Pro raised a $12M Series A led by Forerunner Ventures (TC)

• MedinCell, a Paris-based startup developing long-acting injectable drugs, received an $11M investment from the European Investment Bank (BW)

• BizAway, a Milan-based business travel platform provider, raised $11M in funding from Illimity (FN)

• Plerion, a cybersecurity company, raised a $10M seed round led by Prosus Ventures (FN)

• Blockchain solutions developer HashPort raised an $8.5M Series C led by Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, The University of Tokyo Edge Capital Partners, and Yusaku Maezawa (FN)

• Online learning platform Grasp raised a $4M seed round led by Balderton Capital (FN)

• Ba Fertility, a London-based fertility tech startup, raised a $3.2M round led by Octopus Ventures (FN)

IPO / Direct Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

• L Catterton will launch an IPO of iconic footwear maker Birkenstock at an $8B+ valuation (BBG)

• Country Garden Holdings canceled a $300M stock offering in the latest setback for one of China’s largest private-sector developers (BBG)

• British luxury car maker Aston Martin plans to raise $270M through a share sale to pay down high-interest debt (BBG)

• Israeli brokerage eToro agreed to a $120M secondary share sale, allowing employees and angel investors to exit (RT)

SPAC

• ZOOZ Power, an EV charger infrastructure provider, is merging with Keyarch Acquisition Corp. in a $100M deal (PRN)

Debt

• Biogen intends to replace a $1.5B JPMorgan bridge loan used for its acquisition of Reata Pharmaceuticals with two term loans (BBG)

Bankruptcy / Restructuring

• Cargo Airline Western Global Airlines reached an agreement with creditors to continue operations while it reworks its debt load in a potential bankruptcy (BBG)

Fundraising

• CVC Capital Partners’ secondary buyout specialist Glendower Capital raised $5.8B for its Glendower Capital Secondary Opportunities Fund V (BBG)

• VC Greenoaks raised $2.1B for its fifth fund (AX)

• Ares Management is looking to raise $2B for its Ares Secondaries Infrastructure Solutions Fund III (WSJ)

• Cure Ventures raised an inaugural $350M fund to invest in biotech startups (FBT)

• Coatue Management raised $331M for its third fund focused on early-stage startups, 34% below target (TI)

Crypto Corner

• Blockchain sleuths link BALD liquidity rug pull to Sam Bankman-Fried (DC)

• SEC asked Coinbase to halt trading in everything except Bitcoin before suing (FT)

• World’s largest stablecoin, Tether, saw its reserves rise to $86.5B in Q2 while making a $1B operational profit (RT)

• A German data watchdog has been investigating OpenAI CEO Sam Altman’s Worldcoin project since last year (RT)

Exec’s Picks

• Jefferies CEO Rich Handler shared 100 things he wish he knew before becoming CEO.

• Noah Smith explained why the economy is actually doing pretty well right now.

• Mario Gabriele broke down why ASML is the most important company you’ve never heard of.

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