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Eurozone inflation slowed to 6.9% in March, US consumer spending rose 0.2% in February, Chinese companies are rushing for US IPOs, OPEC+ announced surprise production cuts, UBS will cut its workforce by 20-30%, Musk is eyeing a Twitter digital bank, Virgin Orbit is ceasing operations, and the White House will not pay for Twitter verification.

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Let's dive in.

Before The Bell

Markets

• All three major US indexes rallied 1%+ on Friday as further signs of cooling inflation boosted investor sentiment

  • Nasdaq posted its best quarter since 2020

  • The S&P posted a second straight winning quarter

• The pan-European Stoxx 600 gained 7% in Q1

Earnings

• What we're watching this week:

  • Thursday: Constellation Brands, Levi Strauss

• Full calendar here

Headline Roundup

• Fed-favorite PCE index growth slowed to 5% in February (AX)

• Eurozone inflation dropped to 6.9% in March to a one-year low (FT)

• US consumer spending rose 0.2% in February (RT)

• Global deal making sank to lowest level in over a decade in Q1 (RT)

• Macro HFs dropped 3.2% in March, down 2.7% YTD (RT)

• SVB collapse is complicating bank efforts to unload over $25B of junk debt (WSJ)

• 'Dash for cash' hit $508B in Q1 in largest quarterly inflow since Covid (RT)

• Chinese companies rush for US listings ahead of new rules (RT)

• US bank deposit outflows fell in second week after SVB collapse (RT)

• China VC activity declined ~50% YoY in 2022 (AX)

• OPEC+ announced surprise production cuts (FT)

• UBS will cut its workforce by 20-30%, up to 36k jobs, after CS takeover (BBG)

• Switzerland's prosecutor is investigating Credit Suisse's takeover (RT)

• Musk is eying Twitter digital banking in pursuit of $250B vision (WSJ)

• India regulator is probing some Adani offshore deals (RT)

• Tesla posted record Q1 deliveries yet missed estimates (CNBC)

• Twitter made some source code public and promised more (RT)

• Fidelity marked down its Twitter valuation by 7.9%, 63% since Musk's takeover (AX)

• Virgin Orbit will cease operations after failing to secure funding (CNBC)

• Citi hired BofA wealth management head Andy Sieg to lead global wealth arm (RT)

• White House will not pay for Twitter verification (AX)

• Bipartisan lawmakers will meet with tech/Hollywood execs to discuss China (AX)

• Ousted CEO sued Bed Bath & Beyond over unpaid severance (RT)

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Deal Flow

M&A / Investments

• FDIC retained advisers to sell the $90B and $26B securities portfolios that new respective owners of failed SVB and Signature Bank rejected (RT)

• Natural gas company Ovintiv is nearing a deal to buy oil exploration and production assets in the Permian Basin for ~$4B (RT)

• Entertainment company Endeavor is nearing a deal to buy World Wrestling Entertainment, aka the WWE, at a potential $9B valuation (BBG)

• Biopharma company Sartorius agreed to buy French lab technology company Polyplus for $2.62B (RT)

• Chinese investment firm Primavera Capital is among bidders looking to buy a stake in high-end cosmetics brand Aesop at a potential $2B valuation (BBG)

• Russian drinks/snacks maker Chernogolovk agreed to buy the Russian baby food business of Kraft Heinz for ~$35M (RT)

• Biotech company Apellis Pharmaceuticals has drawn takeover interest from larger drugmakers (RT)

VC

• Fixie, an automation platform for Large Language Models (LLMs) used by enterprises, raised a $17M seed round led by Redpoint Ventures (FN)

• Greentank Technologies, a Toronto-based B2B company providing vaporization hardware and atomization technology, raised a $16.5M Series B which consisted of $14.5M in equity led by Organigram Holdings and $2M in debt from existing shareholders (FN)

• Kiro, a French digital medicine startup, raised a $14.9M Series A led by Sofinnova Partners (FN)

• deepc, a Munich-based digital medicine startup, raised a $13M Series A led by Sofinnova Partners (FN)

• Zorro, an Israeli benefits management platform, raised an $11.5M seed round led by Pitango and 10D (FN)

• Ludex, an AI technology startup providing a trading card scanning and price guide app, raised an $8M seed round from Brian Urlacher (FN)

• Muverse, a startup providing a music NFT exchange and app, raised a $6M seed round led by Syndicate Capital, Knights Templar Capital, and more (FN)

• PxE Holographic Imaging, a startup developing holographic imaging cameras, raised a $5.4M seed round led by Koch Disruptive Technologies (FN)

• Digital medicine startup BioCorteX raised a $5M seed round led by Sofinnova Partners and Hoxton Ventures (FN)

• Coadjute, a provider of a blockchain network for the UK property market, raised a $4.7M round led by Praetura Ventures (FN)

IPO / Direct Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

• World’s biggest private security group Allied Universal put its multibillion-dollar IPO on hold amid economic uncertainty (FT)

• EV truck services firm Shorepower went public via a reverse merger with the United States Basketball League (AX)

Debt

• IMF approved $5.4B in funds to Argentina, boosting reserves (RT)

• PIF-owned Saudi Electricity Company hired HSBC, Standard Chartered, JPMorgan, Bank of China and more to lead the sale of dollar-denominated Islamic bonds (RT)

Fundraising

• Egypt-based Camel Ventures launched a $16M fund to back regional fintech (WM)

Crypto Corner

• Citi believes mass crypto adoption will be driven by CBDCs and tokenization (DC)

• Ripple CEO slammed SEC Chair Gensler for dictating which crypto tokens are securities (BTC)

• Binance, Binance CEO CZ, and influencers are facing a $1B lawsuit for promoting unregistered securities (FR)

• Crypto exchange Bittrex will wind down US operations (CT)

• Crypto media firm The Block laid off roughly one-third of staff (AX)

Exec's Picks

• Tim Urban shared the first chapter of his new book, What's Our Problem?, in this blog post.

• Bill Gates penned a detailed piece on his thoughts on the AI revolution here.

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