Together with

Good Morning,

It’s a big week for earnings calls as names like Goldman, Tesla, and Netflix report Q1 results, US money market funds are continuing to see heavy inflows, Yellen expects US banks to tighten lending, Musk is planning an OpenAI rival, and Ferrari has record orders into 2024.

Is your old mattress lumpy, uncomfortable, and ready to bite the dust? Upgrade your sleep with today's sponsor, Eight Sleep.

Let’s dive in.

Before The Bell

Markets

• US stocks slipped on Friday as investors overlooked stronger-than-expected bank earnings for economic data that likely affirms another Fed rate hike

  • The S&P and Nasdaq scored their fourth winning week in five

  • The Dow notched a fourth-straight positive week

• The pan-European Stoxx 600 rose 0.6% for a fifth-straight session to its highest level since February 2022

• Canada's TSX index notched a six-week high

• Dollar index bounced 0.6% from one-year lows

• Highly anticipated Q1 earnings season officially begins

Earnings

• JPMorgan beat Q1 estimates on record revenue and a 52% jump in profits driven by a 49% rise in net interest income on high rates and significant deposit inflows in its commercial bank; the bank also boosted net interest income guidance causing its stock to surge 7.5% (CNBC)

• Citi beat Q1 EPS and revenue estimates on an 18% rise in personal banking and 4% rise in fixed income markets revenue, which outweighed their drop in IB and equity markets; their stock rose 4.8% (CNBC)

• Wells Fargo beat Q1 EPS and revenue estimates on a 45% rise in interest income which outweighed a 13% decrease in noninterest income driven by poor VC and PE results and a decline in mortgage banking income (CNBC)

• BlackRock beat Q1 EPS estimates despite a 19% drop in profits on enormous inflows from bank clients, a strong fixed-income and cash platform thanks to rising yields, and a lucrative financial markets advisory unit that counsels government institutions during times of stress (WSJ)

• What we're watching this week:

  • Today: Charles Schwab

  • Tuesday: Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, Western Alliance Bancorp, Netflix, Johnson & Johnson

  • Wednesday: Morgan Stanley, Tesla

  • Thursday: Blackstone, Truist, TSMC

  • Friday: Procter & Gamble

• Full calendar here

Headline Roundup

• Retail sales fell for a second straight month by 1% in March (AX)

• S&P 500 Q1 profits are expected to drop ~5% (RT)

• US money market funds saw inflows for a fifth straight week (RT)

• Yellen expects US banks to tighten lending and negate need for more rate hikes (RT)

• ECB President Lagarde sees US debt default as impossible (CBS)

• ECB policymakers are calling for an end to its bond-scheme reinvestment (RT)

• Wall Street banks gain ground on private credit for LBOs (BBG)

• Biggest US banks report bumper profits amid industry turmoil (NYT)

• Over one-third S&P 500 firms increased 2022 executive pay despite negative shareholder returns (FT)

• Investors put $538B into cash funds over two months (RT)

• US banks highlight office real estate as next big worry (RT)

• Musk is planning an AI start-up to rival OpenAI (FT)

• The Fed approved UBS's Credit Suisse takeover (RT)

• Saudi Arabia transferred $78B or 4% of Aramco shares to its PIF wealth fund (WSJ)

• China March new home prices rose at fastest pace in ~2 years (RT)

• Best Buy cut hundreds of store jobs in online push (WSJ)

• Ferrari has record orders 'well into' 2024 (RT)

• ~25k Norwegian industry workers will go on strike (RT)

• Lisa Lewin will join Primary Venture Partners as CEO-in-residence (AX)

A Message From Eight Sleep

Invest in your sleep.

Humans spend roughly one third of their lives sleeping. A good night’s sleep is vital for every human to survive. So why not get the best out there? Enter Eight Sleep.

Eight Sleep is a high-tech smart bed system that has taken Silicon Valley by storm. With built-in heating and cooling system, multiple foam layers to deliver comfort, and analytics tracking to help you optimize your sleep and recovery, Eight Sleep is the complete package.

Eight Sleep has also given the Litquidity community the best offer on the market for their products. Just use code "LIT" at checkout to apply the discount, and you'll get both $200 off the pod mattress and $150 off the mattress cover (more than what they're offering directly on the site).

So what are you waiting for? Order your Eight Sleep today by clicking below 👇🏼

Deal Flow

M&A / Investments

• Pharmaceutical company Merck agreed to buy biotech Prometheus Biosciences for ~$10.8B, a 75% premium to Friday’s close (BBG)

• Japanese entertainment conglomerate Sega is nearing a deal to buy game developer Rovio Entertainment, the company behind the ‘Angry Birds’ mobile game, for ~$1B (WSJ)

• Digital media conglomerate Starboard agreed to buy social media app Parler (RT)

• Investment firm Ripplewood Advisors is considering a bid for the digital banking arm of French telecom carrier Orange (BBG)

• Mining companies including Freeport McMoran, Vale, and Anglo American are evaluating potential bids for Canadian miner Teck Resources’ base metals business (BBG)

• Wedding dress retailer David’s Bridal is considering strategic options including a sale (RD)

• Service-based bank My Money Group’s purchase of lender HSBC’s French retail banking business could fail due to interest rate hikes in the country (RT)

VC

• TORL BioTherapeutics, a biopharmaceutical company focused on cancer treatment, raised a $158M Series B led by Goldman Sachs Asset Management (FN)

• Saluda Medical, a medical device startup, raised $150M in funding led by Wellington Management (FN)

• myenergi, a UK-based eco-smart home technology manufacturer, raised a $37.2M round from HSBC UK (FN)

• Epicsciences, a diagnostics company, raised a $24M Series G led by Deerfield Management and Arsenal Capital Partners (BW)

• ClimateAI, a climate tech startup, raised a $22M Series B led by Four Rivers Group (FN)

• Construction, development, and property company Citra raised $20M in funding (FN)

• Industrial IoT, analytics and intelligence solution provider talpasolutions raised a $16.5M Series B led by Bosch Ventures and MIG Capital (FN)

• ChargeLab, an EV charging management platform, raised a $15M ($10M in equity / $5M in debt) Series A extension led by King River Capital and Silver Comet (PRN)

• Next Gate Tech, a provider of technologies for the financial services industry, raised an $8.8M round led by DB1 Ventures (FN)

• Tvarit, a net-zero metal manufacturing startup, raised a $5.5M round led by Momenta and Futury Capital (FN)

• Grand-Attic, a UK-based mobile gaming company, raised $5.3M in funding led by Makers Fund (FN)

• Tonic.xyz, a remote provider of a gallery offering curated art on the blockchain, raised a $5M seed round led by Patron.xyz and TTCER (FN)

• Axle, a startup providing an API for insurance data, raised a $4M seed round led by Gradient Ventures (FN)

• Web3 payments platform Helio raised a $3.3M seed round led by Peak and Lightspeed Faction (FN)

• Child healthcare startup Little Journey raised $3.1M in funding led by Octopus Ventures (FN)

• Global clinical trial management suite provider ClinOne raised a $3M Series A led by Boulder Ventures (FN)

• EVEN, a creative platform allowing artists to sell music directly to fans, raised a $2.2M seed round led by CSA Partners (TC)

• Sun Metalon, a Japanese startup building ultra-high-speed metal 3D printing tech, raised a $2M pre-Series A extension round from Impact Science Ventures, i-nest capital, and others (FN)

IPO / Direct Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

• Chinese liquor company ZJLD is seeking to raise up to $812M in a Hong Kong IPO (BBG)

• Crypto startup Chia Network confidentially filed for an IPO (BBG)

Debt

• Argentina is in talks to issue up to $1.2B in two dollar-bonds (RT)

Fundraising

• French VC firm Blisce raised $250M for a second fund to make Series A-C investments in European/US startups (SFT)

Crypto Corner

• SEC sees decentralized crypto platforms as exchanges and is seeking public input (RT)

• Sweden will abolish tax incentives for bitcoin miners (CD)

• Bhutan secretly held millions of dollars in cryptocurrency (FRB)

Exec’s Picks

• The New York Times published a good piece on the “end of faking it” in Silicon Valley as fraud crackdowns are happening all over the startup world.

• The Wall Street Journal’s Lindsay Ellis is pushing back against the idea that your Gen-Z coworkers are all lazy.

Litney Partners - Financial Recruiting 💼💼

If you're currently a junior investment banker looking to break into the buy side, considering lateraling to another investment bank, or have recently been impacted by widespread layoffs, it's time you check out Litney Partners, a partnership between Litquidity and Whitney Partners (the oldest purely financial services executive search and consulting firm).

We aim to place strong candidates at leading private equity, hedge fund, venture capital, growth equity, and credit funds, as well as investment banks.

To get started, simply head over to the Litney website and create your profile by dropping your resume / filling out the form:

Meme Cleanser

Advertise with us // Visit our merch store // Invest alongside Lit Ventures

• Want to chat social media growth, newsletter strategy, angel investing, Wall Street careers, or something else? Book a call with Litquidity here.

• Thinking of starting your own newsletter? Beehiiv is the best platform for creators, period. Click here to get started building your own audience.