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Good Morning,
US slapped 50% tariff on some Canadian goods, South Korea's stock index is more volatile than Bitcoin, retail traders are over the Magnificent 7, Miami's cost of living is catching up to NYC, and shipowners are offering mega bonuses to get crews to sail through Hormuz.
You've heard of Zyn's nicotine pouch. How about Roon's focus pouch? 80 mg of caffeine with L-theanine, Dynamine, and TeaCrine. Stay sharp after market close with our Exec Sum discount. Pack a Roon.
Let's dive in.
Before The Bell
As of 7/20/2026 market close.
Learn more about the Litquidity portfolios and subscribe to the strategies on Autopilot.*
Markets
US stocks closed slightly lower yesterday as rising oil prices weighed
UK gilt yields soared as investors digested Andy Burnham's new leadership
US gas prices rose above $4/gal again
Earnings
Prediction Markets
Where's Messi?
Trade event contracts on Polymarket, the world's largest prediction market
Headline Roundup
US slapped 50% tariff on some Canadian goods over retaliation claim (BBG)
Bond markets see eye-to-eye with Kevin Warsh on inflation (BBG)
Retail traders are over the 'Mag 7' (WSJ)
South Korea's stock index is more volatile than Bitcoin (BBG)
Hong Kong listing boom rumbles toward six-year high (BBG)
Hedge Funds are selling US tech stocks at record pace (BBG)
AI selloff crushes over-levered retail traders (BBG)
Chinese traders unwind leverage at the fastest pace since 2016 (BBG)
China's 'national team' bought $9B of stocks to prop up markets (FT)
Rising demand for hedges hints at volatility ahead (BBG)
Morgan Stanley cashes in on AI boom with debt deals (FT)
Moonshot AI's gamble on big models pays off (BBG)
SpaceX will re-attempt its Starship test flight on Thursday (RT)
Shipowners are offering huge bonuses to get crews to sail Hormuz (BBG)
Data center construction boom is lifting airfreight demand (WSJ)
Verizon will cut 3k jobs and divest 274 retail stores (WSJ)
FIFA races to cash in on record-breaking tournament (WSJ)
'Great American Sleepover' softens US image abroad (RT)
Miami cost of living is creeping up on NYC (BBG)
Sinaloa cartel founder gets $15B forfeiture order and life sentence (FT)
A Message from Roon
Stay sharp long after market close
If you're grinding well past market close and need your focus into the evening, Roon is your answer. Roon a zero-nicotine, zero-sugar focus pouch that rebuilds your favorite format around focus instead of nicotine.
Park one under your lip and get a clean, precisely dosed focus stack of 80 mg of caffeine working alongside L-theanine, Dynamine®, and TeaCrine®, designed to carry you through the models, memos, and review rounds that always run longer than planned
Built to last 6-8 hours: Dynamine® slows caffeine circulation, stretching its half-life so a single pouch keeps you locked in. No more spike and fades
No crash, no jitters: L-theanine takes the edge off the caffeine and TeaCrine® adds smooth energy your body doesn't build a tolerance. No crashes halfway through a call
Nothing secrets: Every dose is printed on the label, no proprietary mystery blend, no brewing, and no pills to track
Discreet by design: Hands-free and works quietly under your lip
Roon is a product of best-in-class standards MIT and Harvard scientists who built it because they needed it themselves.
We've secured an exclusive offer for Exec Sum readers: 54% off a Roon subscription.
Roon is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Harvard University or MIT. These statements have not been evaluated by the FDA. Roon is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.
Deal Flow
M&A / Strategic
A federal judge paused Paramount's $110B merger with Warner Bros. after twelve states requested a TRO to block the deal
Logistics firm Prologis improved its offer for UK warehouse landlord Segro to $18.2B with a higher cash component and a prospect of a secondary London listing; Segro rejected the offer
Brookfield and Canada's CPPIB will LBO industrial REIT LXP Industrial Trust in a $5.2B cash deal
Magnolia Oil & Gas agreed to acquire Warburg Pincus and Kayne Anderson-backed WildFire Energy for $4.1B, including debt
Samsung Biologics agreed to acquire Swiss contract drugmaker PolyPeptide at a $1.8B equity value
AI biotech Tempus AI agreed to buy cancer-testing firm Personalis at a $1.7B equity valuation
Truelink Capital acquired coffee syrup maker Lyons Magnus for $41B, including debt
$767M UK-listed early-stage science investor IP Group rejected a sweetened offer from UK pension and major shareholder Railpen
KKR and Vauban Infrastructure Partners are competing to acquire a 54% stake in Portuguese fiber operator DStelecom from Cube Infrastructure Managers at a potential $450M valuation
Lionheart Capital is close to a $400M deal for a stake in a Venezuelan oil field, in what would be the first major private investment since Maduro's capture
UK PE firm Modella Capital expressed interest in buying luxury department store chain Harvey Nichols
Volenergy will acquire BP's Austrian mobility, convenience EV charging businesses
VC
Chinese AI unicorn 01.ai is seeking to raise a pre-IPO round ahead of a Hong Kong listing
Fluidstack, an infrastructure provider for AI labs, raised an $830M Series A at a $7.5B valuation led by Situational Awareness
Chinese world model AI startup GigaAI is in talks to raise funds at a $3B valuation as it explores a Hong Kong IPO next year
CuspAI, a UK startup using AI for materials discovering, raised a $450M Series B at a $2.6B valuation led by Kleiner Perkins and NEA
Futronic, a Korean supplier of high-precision actuators, raised an investment from Blackstone at a $657M valuation
Sereact, a German robotics and AI startup, raised a $116M Series B led by Headline
Cybersecurity startup Neo, focused on securing AI agents, raised $100M comprising a $75M Series A led by a16z and Bessemer Venture Partners
Twenty, America's first VC-backed cyber warfare startup, raised an additional $30M at a $1.2B valuation from Khosla Venture
Natural, a payments infrastructure for AI agents, raised a $30M Series A led by Kirsten Green
Infinity, an inference and AI infrastructure startup, raised $15M at a $100M valuation from Touring Capital, Principal VC
Access the complete VC deal flow and data on Fundable
IPOs / Listings / Issuances / Block Trades
Chinese optics firm Innolight is gauging interest for an $8B Hong Kong IPO, the city's biggest in seven years
Blackstone-backed sandwich chain Jersey Mike's is seeking to raise $1.1B at an $8B valuation in its IPO
Canadian gold miner Cadillac Mines is seeking to raise $260M in a Canada IPO
Permira-backed celebrity-favorite retailer Reformation is seeking to raise $240M at a $1B valuation in an IPO
An unnamed shareholder sold a $225M stake in UK telecoms BT
Fortescue's billionaire founder Andrew Forrest agreed to acquire a 16.8% stake in Aussie tungsten EQ Resources from Oaktree for $133M
Lilly-backed heart disease-focused biotech Scribe Therapeutics is seeking to raise $107M at a $243M valuation in an IPO
Coca-Cola hired banks for a 2027 IPO of its Indian bottling unit Hindustan Coca-Cola Holdings
Debt
BlackRock is leading a $12B bond sale to finance a Texas data center campus backed by Meta
Goldman Sachs sold $2.5B of perpetual bonds
Indian conglomerate Shapoorji Pallonji raised $1.6B in one of India's largest private credit deals
A group of lenders led by Citigroup is preparing a $1.5B leveraged loan to back Veritas Capital's acquisition of Canadian building management company BGIS
Washington, DC is preparing a $1.2B munis sale as credit stabilizes post-DOGE
Netflix sold $1B of investment grade bonds two years after its debut deal
KKR-backed Serentica Renewables India raised $450M in an offshore loan underwritten by SocGen
SoftBank is planning another $370M bond sale
Funds / Secondaries
GoldenTree Asset Management raised $2.75B for its second private credit fund
Credit-focused NXT Capital raised $1.8B for its eighth private credit fund
Crypto Sum Snapshot
CLARITY Act stalled by ethics provision over Trump's $1B crypto income
'Wild West' of untested peptides has Americans paying in crypto to get their fix
Crypto Sum compiles the most important stories on everything crypto. Read it here.
Exec’s Picks
Korean trader Lee Seung-ho made 1,500% gains using a 500% margin loan before losing everything. He plans to re-enter trading once he rebuilds capital. Check out Reuters' profile on Korea's frenzied stock trading euphoria (and the inevitable consequences).
Bloomberg published a highly insightful data-driven deep dive on the new kind of insider trader arising due to prediction markets.
Also checking in on all the singles. Make sure you aren't getting 'chatfished' lmao…
Financial Services Recruiting 💼
If you're a junior banker looking for your next career move, check out Litney Partners, a recruiting firm established by Litquidity and Whitney Partners (the oldest purely financial services executive search and consulting firm).
We aim to place strong candidates across private equity, hedge funds, venture capital, growth equity, credit, and investment banking.
We're currently seeking talent for some incredible roles. Head over to Litney Partners to drop your resume / create your profile and we'd love to get in touch!
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*DISCLAIMER: Investment advice provided by Autopilot Advisers, LLC ("Autopilot"), an SEC-registered investment adviser. Past performance does not guarantee future results. Investing carries risks, including loss of principal. As always, be smart out there. Litquidity is compensated to promote AutoPilot. Compensation details available upon request.