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Good Morning,

All eyes are on big tech earnings this week, plummeting inflation has the Fed watching out for rising real interest rates, Meta is welcoming a headset war with Apple, Argentina’s president says he’s delivering on his free-market revolution, and United’s CEO kickstarted talks with Airbus amid Boeing delays.

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Let’s dive in.

Before The Bell

Markets

• US stocks closed mixed but clinched weekly gains thanks to the latest positive economic data

  • The Nasdaq fell 0.36%, while the Dow rose 0.16%

• European stocks rose to close at a two-year high as investors digested the ECB’s latest rate decision, Q4 earnings, and fresh economic data

Earnings

• American Express shares jumped 7% after a better-than-expected 2024 earnings forecast; however, Q4 results fell short of expectations (BBG) 

• What we're watching this week:  

  • Today: Cleveland-Cliffs

  • Tuesday: Microsoft, Alphabet, AMD, Starbucks, GM, UPS, JetBlue

  • Wednesday: Qualcomm, Boeing, Novo Nordisk

  • Thursday: Apple, Amazon, Meta, Royal Caribbean, Altria

  • Friday: Exxon, Chevron, Bristol Myers Squibb, AbbVie, Cigna

• Full calendar here

Headline Roundup

• Stock market’s fate rests on $10T in big tech earnings (BBG)

• Plummeting inflation raises new risk for Fed: rising real interest rates (WSJ)

• Goldman, JPMorgan see euro challenging yen as carry-trade funder (BBG)

• Meta welcomes headset war with Apple (WSJ)

• Traders line up for a ‘once-in-a-generation’ emerging markets bet (BBG)

• Argentina’s President promised a free-market revolution, and says he’s delivering (WSJ)

• China tightens securities lending rule to support stock market (BBG)

• Aviation’s wheelers and dealers meet under shadow of MAX crisis (RT)

• United CEO kickstarts Airbus talks amid Boeing delays (CNBC)

• Bank of America employees to share $800M stock reward (BBG)

• Big pharma is at a crossroads, as J&J, Merck and others prepare to lose heaps of revenue from blockbuster drugs (CNBC)

• Unhappy workers cost US firms $1.9T (BBG)

• Taylor Swift’s name not searchable on X days after sexually explicit deepfakes go viral (CNBC)

• Musk’s X pledges 100-person office in Texas to police content (BBG)

• Three US troops killed in drone attack in Jordan (WSJ)

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Deal Flow

M&A / Investments

• UK’s CMA launched a formal probe into the planned $19B merger of Vodafone’s UK operations with CK Hutchison’s Three UK, which would create Britain’s largest mobile operator (RT) 

• Building products company Johnson Controls International is exploring a sale of a portfolio of heating and ventilation assets worth as much as $5B (BBG)

• JetBlue Airways may terminate its proposed $3.8B acquisition of low-cost carrier Spirit Airlines after a federal judge blocked the deal (BBG)

• Muscle disease drug developer Dyne Therapeutics, which has a $1.7B market cap, is considering options amid takeover interest from larger pharmaceutical companies (BBG) 

• Carlyle Group is considering the sale of HSO in a deal that could value the Dutch technology services firm at ~$1B (BBG) 

• Bain Capital is in talks with SK Hynix to restart negotiations to merge memory chip makers Western Digital and Japan's Kioxia Holdings (RT) 

• Luxury conglomerate LVMH is in talks to purchase a building at 745 Fifth Avenue in Manhattan (BBG)

VC

• Krutrim, an Indian AI startup founded by Ola founder Bhavish Aggarwal, raised a $50M round at a $1B valuation led by Matrix Partners India (TC)

• Thentia, a regulatory technology company, raised a $38M Series B extension led by First Ascent Ventures, Spring Mountain Capital, BDC Capital, and Espresso Capital (PRN)

• Proof Technology, a service of process and e-filing technology platform, raised a $30.4M Series B led by Long Ridge Equity Partners (FN)

• Axiom, a startup using cryptographic proofs to give smart contract developers access to more data on-chain, raised a $20M Series A led by Standard Crypto and Paradigm (FN)

• Chef Robotics, a startup building robots to help with food assembly, raised a $14.8M combo equity / debt round led by MaC Venture Capital, MFV Partners, Interwoven Ventures, and Alumni Ventures (TC)

• PRISM BioLab, a Tokyo-based biotech company focused on designing small molecule inhibitors of protein-protein interactions, raised a $10.3M Series C led by Eli Lilly and Santec Holdings Corporation (FN)

• GreenSpark, a startup building a modern software platform for the metal recycling industry, raised $9.4M in new funding led by Zero Infinity Partners and Third Prime (BW)

• Digital investment solutions startup WealthKernel raised a $7.2M Series A extension led by ETFS Capital (FN)

• AI testing startup RagaAI raised a $4.7M round led by pi Ventures (FN)

• Online psychotherapy platform Hedepy raised a $4.2M round led by Hungarian Impact Ventures (EU)

• Cnergreen, a startup manufacturing stable foams for CO2 injection, raised a $2M seed round led by Rhapsody Venture Partners (FN)

IPO / Direct Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

• Swiss cement giant Holcim plans to spin off its $30B North American business and list it in the US (FT) 

• Chipmaking startup Cerebras Systems is weighing an IPO as soon as this year that could value the AI supercomputer maker at well above its $4B valuation from 2021 (BBG) 

• BrightSpring Health Services shares fell 15% in its debut day of trading, giving the KKR-backed community-based health-care services provider a ~$1.9B market value (BBG)

Debt

• Japanese technology conglomerate Rakuten Group plans to raise $1B through a junk bond offering and repurchase debt due this year (BBG) 

• One of China’s largest bad-debt managers, China Orient Asset Management International Holding, raised $550M through its first dollar-bond offering since 2020 (BBG)  

Bankruptcy / Restructuring

• Steward Health Care System, the largest tenant of hospital REIT Medical Properties Trust, is examining restructuring options amid worsening financials (WSJ) 

Fundraising

• Credit investor Oak Hill Advisors is seeking $3B for its Oak Hill Advisors Senior Private Lending Fund, which will lend to large PE-owned businesses (WSJ) 

• Billionaire Michael Hintze is preparing to re-launch his hedge fund under Deltroit Asset Management in March with $2B (BBG) 

• VC and podcaster Chamath Palihapitiya cancelled plans to raise $1B for an early-stage investment fund (AX) 

• ​​InnoVen Capital, a provider of venture debt for technology firms, is seeking to raise $250M for its second China-focused fund (BBG)

Crypto Corner

• FTX and its affiliates are unloading crypto assets to pay back customers, nearly doubling its cash hoard to $4.4B by the end of 2023 (BBG) 

• BlackRock’s Bitcoin ETF reached $2B AUM (CD)

Exec’s Picks

• Looking for an AI tool that can help with your investing research? Check out Danelfin, an AI-powered stock-picking tool with an up to a 94% win rate that was named “Best Financial Research Company” at the Benzinga Fintech Awards.

• NYU professor Jay Rosen wrote a good thread covering factors that have contributed to the downturn in the news industry.

• David Lynch explained why the rest of the developed world is envious of the US’s economy.

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