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Good Morning,

Several big banks are cutting jobs and bonuses, US manufacturing activity contracted for the first time in 2.5 years, the world's poorest countries owe $62B on bilateral debt, gas prices have hit pre-Russia/Ukraine conflict levels, China will loosen Covid curbs, Florida is pulling money out of BlackRock in anti-ESG move, meme stocks are rallying again, SCOTUS will decide on the legality of Biden's student loan forgiveness plan, and the College Football Playoff is expanding in 2024.

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Let's dive in.

Before The Bell

If you want to learn more about crypto trading strategies and the world of DeFi, check out our Foot Guns newsletter.

Markets

• US stocks ended Thursday's session mixed as investors digested optimistic economic data that suggests rate hikes are working

  • Investors are also eyeing November's key jobs report, which the Labor Department will release today

• The pan-European Stoxx 600 gained 0.76% to hit a six-month high

• US dollar index hit a four-month low

Earnings

• Toronto-Dominion Bank beat on Q3 EPS and revenue estimates on strong personal and commercial business which offset weakness in capital markets; their Q3 profit jump came up short in contrast to peers (RT)

• Kroger beat on Q3 EPS and revenue estimates and hiked its FY forecast on strong demand for lower priced groceries; the firm recently agreed to merge with rival Albertsons (CNBC)

• Full calendar here

Headline Roundup

• PCE index rose by a less-than-expected 0.3% in October (CNBC)

• Personal income rose by 0.7% in October (CNBC)

• US manufacturing activity contracted for first time in 2.5 years in November (RT)

• US worker shortage problem is consequence of 'excess retirements': J Pow (AX)

• Poorest countries now owe $62B on bilateral debt, a 35% YoY increase (RT)

• Over 70% of European junk-rated companies are at risk of default (BBG)

• Gas prices are now cheaper than before Russia invaded Ukraine (AX)

• China will loosen Covid curbs after week of protests (RT)

• Goldman Sachs surprises traders with bonus warning despite record revenue haul (BBG)

• Jefferies warns employees that bonus season will be "difficult" (BBG)

• Credit Suisse shares get closer to offer price in $2.4B cash call (RT)

• HSBC will lay off up to 300 senior operations managers globally (RT)

• Wells Fargo cut hundreds of jobs again in mortgage business (BBG)

• Morgan Stanley is making 'modest' job cuts globally (RT)

• Credit Suisse will speed up job cuts as revenue outlook worsens (RT)

• JPMorgan will share custody with HSBC of $52B in gold bars backing world's biggest gold ETF (RT)

• Florida pulled $2B from BlackRock in largest anti-ESG divestment (RT)

• Some meme stocks are rallying again (BBG)

• SCOTUS will decide on legality of Biden's student-loan forgiveness scheme (WSJ)

• College Football Playoff will expand from 4 to 12 teams in 2024 (AX)

A Message From Poolit

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Deal Flow

M&A / Investments

• Computer company Hewlett Packard is considering buying cloud computing company Nutanix, which has a market value of ~$6.7B (BBG) 

• REIT VICI Properties agreed to buy Blackstone’s 49.9% stake in the JV that owns the MGM Grand Las Vegas and Mandalay Bay resorts for ~$1.27B (RT)

• General Atlantic and Dragoneer Investment offered to buy and take private Brazilian tech-education company Arco Platform, boosting shares up 25% (BBG)

• Binance acquired Japanese crypto exchange Sakura (DC)

• JPMorgan Private Bank made strategic investments in Swiss fintechs Edge Laboratories and Evooq (RT)

VC

• UpStream, a value-based primary care services and technology company, raised a $140M Series B led by Coatue and Dragoneer (PRN)

• Frore Systems, a company developing thermal solutions for PC processors, raised a $100M round led by Qualcomm Ventures (TC)

• August Bioservices, a pharmaceutical CDMO, raised a $65M Series B led by Oak HC/FT (BW)

• Lumen, a startup building handheld weight loss devices, raised a $62M Series B led by Pitango Venture Capital (TC)

• Indian agritech startup DeHaat raised a $60M Series E at a $700M+ valuation led by Sofina Ventures and Temasek (TC)

• OneRail, a provider of last-mile delivery solutions, raised a $33M Series B led by Arsenal Growth Equity and Piva Capital (BW)

• COVID reporting app Zoe raised a $30M round at a $250M valuation led by Accomplice (TC)

• Web3 developer platform Fleek raised a $25M Series A led by Polychain Capital (TC)

• Passwordless authentication startup HYPR raised a $25M Series C-1 led by Advent International (BW)

• Plant-based food brand Huel raised a $24M round at a $560M valuation led by Highland Europe (TC)

• Classified Cycling, a Belgian startup developing technology for the cycling industry, raised $23M in funding led by Active Partners (PRN)

• Shield, a communication and compliance platform for financial institutions, raised a $20M Series B led by Macquarie Capital and UBS Next (TC)

• Stellar, a startup helping manage the maintenance of SFR properties, raised a $20M Series B led by Weatherford Capital (BW)

• PictorLabs, a digital pathology company, raised $18.8M in funding led by M Ventures, SCC Soft Computer, and Koç Holding (PRN)

• X1, a consumer fintech startup, raised a $15M round at a $50M valuation led by Soma Capital (TC)

• Onboarding platform AllWork raised a $4.9M Series A led by FINTOP Capital (PRN)

• Stony Creek Colors, a manufacturer of natural indigo dye, raised a $4.8M Series B-2 led by Lewis & Clark AgriFood and Levi Strauss & Co (PRN)

• Smartphone re-commerce startup Badili raised a $2.1M pre-seed round from Venture Catalysts, V&RAfrica, Grenfell Holdings, and others (TC)

IPO / Direct Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

• Thai supermarket company CJ Express is considering raising $500M+ in a Bangkok IPO (BBG)

Bankruptcy / Restructuring

• Online wine club Winc filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, a year after its IPO (BBG)

Fundraising

• Pemberton Asset Management is looking to raise ~$34B for five credit strategies to plug a European lending gap being created by pessimistic banks (BBG)

• VC firm 645 Ventures raised two new funds: a $195M fourth early-stage fund and a new $153M vehicle to invest in mature, growth-stage startups (FRB)

• Nature-focused investment manager New Forests launched a new fund targeting $413M to invest across forest, land and agriculture markets in Australia and New Zealand (IPE)

• UK mortgage lender LendInvest is launching a new $367M open-ended fund (with $245M+ in commitments already) to focus on short-term transactional loans and development loans in UK real estate (BC)

• Creation Investments raised a $270M+ fifth fund to invest in Indian / Mexican fintech companies (PRN)

• Pan-European VC firm Peak launched a $158M fifth seed fund to invest in ~50 early-stage SaaS, marketplace, and platform founders across Europe (AS)

Crypto Corner

• Sam Bankman-Fried donated equally to Democrats and Republicans, with Republican donations being dark (GU)

• Apple blocked iOS Coinbase users from transacting NFTs in-app (RT)

• Italy will impose a 26% tax on crypto gains from 2023, following in steps of Portugal (DC)

Exec's Picks

• Recently got into the sport of Padel (not to be mistaken with pickleball) and got hooked up with some new gear from the team at TWOTWO. They've got sleek looking rackets, hats, balls, hoodies, and more. Check them out and get 10% off with code "Litquidity10" at checkout. Their cutoff date for US orders to arrive in time for Christmas is December 15th.

• "Cold Blooded Shiller" shared the full SBF/Good Morning America interview on Twitter

• The New York Times shared the highlights from SBF's interview at their annual DealBook Summit here.

The Hiring Block 💼

If you're looking to break into finance, lateral, or move out, check out our job board on Pallet, where we curate highly relevant roles for you. We aim to curate jobs across IB, S&T, VC, tech, private equity, DeFi, crypto, CorpDev and more. We'll sift through all the noise on LinkedIn, Indeed, Monster, etc. so you don't have to.

If you're a company looking to hire candidates and want to list a job opening on our board and feature on Exec Sum, click the button below:

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