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Good Morning,

Stocks had a rough day, European banks raised rates by 0.5%, US IPO proceeds hit a 32-year low, Musk sold $3.5B of Tesla stock, the EU approved a 15% minimum corporate tax, US rents dropped 0.4% MoM, Twitter suspended a bunch of journalists, the Senate passed a bill to ban TikTok on government devices, and mortgage rates fell for the 5th straight week.

Let's dive in.

Before The Bell

Markets

• US stocks posted their sharpest daily decline in weeks as lower retail sales data raised fears that the Fed is tipping the economy into a recession

  • The Dow had its worst day since mid-September, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq suffered their biggest daily losses since early November

• The pan-European Stoxx 600 fell 2.8% in its biggest one-day loss since May, following 50 bps rate hikes by ECB, BoE and SNB

• Oil prices slid ~2% on fears of a stronger dollar and further global interest rate hikes

• The dollar index rose 0.9%

Earnings

• Adobe beat Q4 EPS estimates on record operating cash flows, with FY guidance also exceeding expectations; their stock rose 5% AH (CNBC)

• What we're watching this week:

  • Today: Accenture

• Full calendar here

Headline Roundup

• ECB, BoE and Swiss National Bank each raised rates by 0.5% (WSJ)

• US retail sales fell more than expected in November (CNBC)

• US weekly jobless claims fell by 20k to lowest level since late September (WSJ)

• US IPO proceeds hit a 32-year low, down more than 50% compared to any of the last 31 years (AX)

• US rents dropped 0.4% MoM in November, the fastest drop in seven years (AX)

• US mortgage rates fell for a fifth straight week (BBG)

• Home flipping profits in Q3 dropped at the fastest pace since 2009 (CNBC)

• EU approved a 15% corporate minimum tax (WSJ)

• Chinese firms avert delisting as US audit watchdog gained full inspection access (RT)

• US refiners have more than recouped pandemic losses in 2022 (RT)

• HSBC's minority shareholders are pressuring the bank to spin off assets (RT)

• ChatGPT owner OpenAI is projecting $1B in revenue by 2024 (RT)

• China's BYD will launch a second EV brand in 2023 (RT)

• Washington Post will lay off a single-digit percent of its workforce (AX)

• Elon Musk sold over $3.5B worth of Tesla shares this week (WSJ)

• Twitter suspended journalists who cover Elon Musk (AP)

• US Senate unanimously passed a bill to ban TikTok on government devices (AX)

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Deal Flow

M&A / Investments

• German state-owned rail operator Deutsche Bahn will explore selling its DB Schenker logistics unit that could fetch ~$21.4B (BBG)

• A consortium comprised of Singapore’s GIC, the infrastructure investment arm of Canada’s OMERS, and investment firm Wren House agreed to buy chassis lessor Direct ChassisLink for ~$3.6B (RT)

• Blackstone is considering strategic options for Japenese specialty drugmaker Ayumy Pharmaceutical at a potential $1B valuation (BBG)

• Sun European Partners agreed to buy British professional services firm K3 Capital for ~$330.2M (RT)

• Medtech Siemens Healthineers and General Electric’s healthcare arm are among parties studying a potential purchase of medical device maker Medtronic’s patient-monitoring and respiratory-intervention businesses (BBG)

• Zara founder Amancio Ortega bought a residential skyscraper in Seattle for $323M (RT)

• Crypto exchange FTX is selling its Embed Financial Technologies, LedgerX, FTX Japan, and FTX Europe business units after filing for bankruptcy (WSJ)

VC

• ​​Hotel management platform Mews raised a $185M Series C at an $865M valuation led by Kinnevik and GSAM (TC)

• Aztec Network, a startup building an ‘encrypted’ version of Ethereum, raised a $100M Series B led by a16z (TC)

• Synchron, a startup creating an endovascular brain-computer interface, raised a $75M Series C led by ARCH Venture Partners (BW)

• Sun King, a provider of off-grid solar energy products in Africa and Asia, raised a $70M Series D extension round led by LeapFrog Investments (TC)

• Enlaza Therapeutics, a covalent biologic platform, raised a $61M seed round led by Avalon Ventures (BW)

• BillionToOne, a molecular diagnostics company, raised $48.5M from existing investors such as Libertus Capital, Hummingbird Ventures, Baillie Gifford, and others (PRN)

• Azalea Health, an electronic health records and revenue cycle management platform, raised $45M in debt financing led by CIBC Innovation Banking (BW)

• Gilgamesh Pharmaceuticals, a startup developing treatments for depression and mental health disorders, raised a $39M Series B led by Prime Movers Lab (PRN)

• Sweep, a no-code config tool for Salesforce software, raised $28M in funding from Bessemer Venture Partners and Insight Partners (TC)

• Cailabs, a French startup developing photonic solutions for industrial and communication applications, raised a $27.6M Series C led by NewSpace Capital (BW)

• Risk management provider Acin received a $24M investment from JPMorgan, Citi, Barclays, BNP Paribas and Lloyds (RT)

• Cabinet Health, a startup developing a refillable and compostable medicine storage system, raised a $17M debt / equity round led by the Global Impact Fund (BW)

• K1x, a provider of automated tax solutions for tax-exempt organizations, raised $15M in funding from Edison Partners (BW)

• Protect AI, a startup aiming to bring greater security to AI systems, raised a $13.5M seed round led by Acrew Capital and Boldstart Ventures (TC)

• Eion, a startup helping farms capture carbon with green rock dust, raised a $12M Series A led by AgFunder and Ridgeline (TC)

• Juno, a startup building a healthcare model that offers in-person care in diverse neighborhoods across the country, raised a $12M Series A led by Serena Ventures and NEXT Ventures (TC)

• RegASK, a RegTech SaaS startup, raised a $10M Series A led by Monograph Capital (PRN)

• Plugo, an e-commerce support platform for D2C brands in Southeast Asia, raised a $9M Series A led by Altos Ventures (TC)

• Forest restoration startup Kodama Systems raised a $6.6M seed round led by Breakthrough Energy Ventures and Congruent Ventures (PRN)

• Grata, a startup building an online platform for consumers to express recognition to frontline employees, raised a $6M seed round from Capital Factory, Clutch, Hall Group, and Perot Jain (PRN)

• Poolit, a fintech startup aming to democratize the ability to invest in PE / VC funds, raised a $5.3M round led by Harlem Capital and Picus Capital (TC)

• 3Bee, an Italian startup using technology to support bees / pollination, raised a $5.3M Series A led by the Grow Impact Fund (PRN)

• CtrlStack, a DevOps observability platform, raised a $5.2M seed round led by Sequoia (PRN)

• Infinity AI, a startup generating automated synthetic training data, raised a $5M seed round led by Matrix (PRN)

• UptimeAI, an AI-based digital transformation solution provider for the energy, chemicals, and heavy industries, raised a $3.5M round led by Emergent Ventures (PRN)

• Chronic pain solutions startup Override raised $3.5M in funding led by 7wireVentures (BW)

• Recast, a marketing data science platform, raised a $3.4M seed round led by Lerer Hippeau (PRN)

• Pocketnest, a financial wellness platform, raised a $2.6M round led by Reseda Group (PRN)

• Suplyd, an Egyptian procurement platform for hotels / resteraunts / catering, raised a $1.6M pre-seed round from Endure Capital, Seedstars, Camel Ventures, and more (TC)

• MyHealth Africa, an integrated healthcare platform, raised a $1M seed round led by the GIIG Africa Fund (TC)

SPAC

• Canadian oil and gas company Greenfire Resources agreed to merge with M3-Brigade Acquisition Corp III in a $780M deal (RT)

• Chinese luxury fashion conglomerate Lanvin raised $150M for a $1.31B valuation in a New York SPAC listing yesterday (RT)

Debt

• Japanese banks MUFG, Mizuho, SMFG, and Sumitomo Mitsui Trust agreed to provide an $8.8B loan to the Japan Industrial Partners-led consortium purchasing Toshiba (BBG)

• Greece repaid a $2.9B eurozone bailout loan ahead of schedule for the first time (RT)

Fundraising

• NewSpace Capital, a Luxembourg-based PE fund focused on space tech, raised a $112M space focused growth fund (BW)

• Ventures Platform, a Pan-African early-stage VC firm, raised a $46M fund to invest in seed / pre-seed African startups (TC)

Crypto Corner

• Kevin O’Leary claimed Binance deliberately caused FTX's collapse at US Senate committee hearing (DC)

• New York's financial regulator issued cryptocurrency guidance for banks (RT)

• Hong Kong will debut two ETFs that track US-listed crypto futures today (RT)

• The Bahamas government wants to claim ownership over FTX's $256M regional real estate (CNBC)

• Chief of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency is seeing banks' crypto curiosity tumble (BBG)

• UK's to-be financial regulator chair Ashley Alder believes crypto firms facilitate money laundering (FT)

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