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Good Morning,

Traders are levering up on rate cut bets like never before, a federal court struck down the 'noncompetes' ban, CrowdStike is salty about rivals picking up their scraps, and Musk's Twitter LBO is now the worst deal for banks since 2008.

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Before The Bell

Markets

• US stocks slipped as the rebound rally paused ahead of J Pow's Thursday speech  

  • S&P and Nasdaq snapped an eight-day win streak

  • Dow broke a six-day win streak

• Canada's TSX index fell from an ATH to snap an eight-day win streak

• Asian stocks also snapped a three-day win streak

• Dollar slipped to a YTD low versus euro as traders brace for rate cuts

Earnings

• Lowe's beat Q2 earnings estimates but missed on revenue and cut its FY forecast due to weak big ticket consumer spending (CNBC) 

• What we're watching this week:  

  • Today: Target, Macy’s

  • Thursday: TD Bank Group, Cava

• Full calendar here

Headline Roundup

• Musk's Twitter LBO is now the worst deal for banks since 2008 (WSJ)

• Number of leveraged Treasury futures bets rose to an ATH (BBG)

• Largest EM Asian bond markets see net inflows for first time since 2021 (BBG)

• US money funds see $90B in inflows MTD ahead of imminent rate cuts (FT)

• SEC approved tougher rules for accounting 'negligence' (RT)

• BOJ is expected to raise rates again by year-end (RT)

• Sweden's central bank cut rates to 3.5% (WSJ)

• China disbursed only 5% of fund designed to rescue property developers (FT)

• US O&G M&A jumped 57% last year amid industry consolidation (RT)

• China youth unemployment soared to 17% (CNBC)

• CrowdStrike hit out at rivals' 'shady' attacks after global IT outage (FT)

• A federal court struck down US ban on worker 'noncompetes' (AP)

• North America sees 70% jump in data center supply construction (RT)

• Shares of Trump Media sunk to record low (RT)

• Obesity drug Zepbound sharply reduces diabetes progression (WSJ)

• A major Las Vegas casino was accused of hosting criminals (WSJ)

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Deal Flow

M&A / Investments

• Media exec Edgar Bronfman Jr. raised $5.5B to improve his initial $4.3B bid for control of Paramount Global (FT) 

• Investment firm Turn/River Capital is exploring a potential sale of automation software maker Redwood Software for $2.5B, including debt (RT) 

• US ended antitrust review of Alaska Air and Hawaiian Airlines' $1.9B merger (BBG) 

• Johnson & Johnson will acquire medtech firm V-Wave in a $1.7B deal (BBG) 

• Chinese EV brand Avatr Technology acquired a 10% stake in Huawei's smart car unit Yinwang Smart Tech for $1.6B (BBG) 

• KKR is in advanced talks to acquire airport parking operator The Parking Spot for $1.4B (BBG) 

• Hyatt Hotels agreed to acquire hotel brand Standard International in a $335M deal (BBG) 

• CRE securitized debt servicer Trimont will acquire Wells Fargo's non-agency third-party Commercial Mortgage Servicing business (RT) 

• Qatar Airways will take a 25% stake in South African regional carrier Airlink (RT) 

• HSBC is weighing a sale of its South African businesses (BBG) 

VC

• Fortera, a low-carbon cement startup, raised an $85M Series C led by Khosla Ventures, Temasek, and others (BW)

• Military logistics startup Defcon AI raised a $44M seed round led by Bessemer Venture Partners (TC)

• Crypto hardware startup Fabric Cryptography raised a $33M Series A led by Blockchain Capital and 1kx (TC)

• AI experimentation platform Eppo raised a $28M Series B led by Innovation Endeavors (TC)

• The Rounds, a 'household restocking' delivery service, raised a $24M Series B led by Moderne Ventures (TC)

• AI construction startup Trunk Tools raised a $20M Series A led by Redpoint (TC)

• Power to Hydrogen, a startup building advanced electrolysis technologies, raised an $18M Series A led by Rev1 Ventures and Worthington Enterprises (FN)

• Reliant AI, an AI automating data extraction from research papers, raised a $11.3M seed round led by Tola Capital and Inovia Capital (TC)

• Clarium, a healthcare supply chain startup, raised $10.5M in financing led by General Catalyst (BW)

• Allstacks, a SWE intelligence platform, raised a $10M Series A led by Quadri Ventures (FN)

• Kubiya, a conversational AI solution for DevOps teams, raised a $12M seed round led by Heavybit (BW)

• Enteligent, a developer of solar-powered EV chargers, raised $6M in funding led by Taronga Ventures (BW)

IPO / Direct Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

• Walmart is seeking to sell a $3.74B stake in Chinese e-commerce JD.com (RT)

Debt

• Kroger raised $10.5B in bonds to help fund its merger with rival Albertsons (BBG)

• New Jersey will sell $2.4B of bonds for its transportation infrastructure (BBG)

• GDS is considering raising $2.3B in loans for its data center operation expansion in Malaysia (BBG) 

Bankruptcy / Restructuring

• Activist Elliott led a $400M debt deal to provide fresh liquidity to software company Magenta Buyer through a drop-down transaction (BBG) 

• A US court approved ​​Foley Family Wines $15M acquisition of five wine brands from bankrupt California-based Vintage Wine Estates (BBG)  

Fundraising

• MM PE firm THL is seeking to raise $6.25B for its tenth fund (WSJ) 

• Logistical real estate firm Dermody Properties raised $1B for its fourth fund (BW) 

Crypto Corner

• DeFi platform Mango Markets settled with SEC despite facing no charges (BBG) 

• Crowded Bitcoin derivatives bets spur warning of short squeeze (BBG)

• Nigeria's SEC plans to license crypto exchanges (BBG)

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