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Good Morning,

Nokia released a 'dumb' phone for Gen Z, Two Sigma's co-founders stepped down, Berkshire Hathaway hit a $1T market cap, OpenAI is seeking a $100B+ valuation, and Nvidia once again kept the US stock market afloat…literally

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Let’s dive in.

Before The Bell

Markets

• US stocks fell further in anticipation of Nvidia's earnings....which 'disappointed' on an incredibly high set bar

• Oil surged on reports of Libyan production shutdown

Earnings

• Nvidia shares fell 7% despite beating Q2 EPS, revenue and Q3 forecasts on surging demand for data center chips as revenue growth came below 200% for the first time in three quarters and guidance growth plateaued slightly (RT)

• CrowdStrike beat Q2 EPS estimates but lowered its FY sales forecast due to its global outage (CNBC)

• Salesforce rose 4% after a Q2 beat-and-raise on strong enterprise cloud demand (CNBC) 

• What we're watching this week:  

  • Today: Dell, Best Buy, Dollar General, lululemon

• Full calendar here

Headline Roundup

• Nvidia earnings now as impactful as jobs data on US markets (FT)

• Goldman becomes first bank to successfully appeal capital requirements (FT)

• TD's plan for regulatory fines to open door for CEO replacement (RT)

• Two Sigma co-founders step down as co-CEOs amid disagreements (WSJ)

• Berkshire Hathaway hit a $1T market cap (BBG)

• Congress grilled Intel's CEO on federal funding after job cut plan (RT)

• SEC will require monthly reports on mutual fund / ETF holdings (RT)

• California advances AI safety bill that has tech leaders divided (BBG)

• An appeals court struck down a major Big Tech liability shield (BBG)

• Poland stock market aims for revival after 'lost' years (FT)

• France charged Telegram's co-founder for a host of crimes (WSJ)

• China is going after PwC amid historic real estate crisis (WSJ)

• US cities post higher unemployment and wage squeezes (BBG)

• US 30Y mortgage rate fell to the lowest since May 2023 (RT)

• Allstate will raise some California home insurance rates by 650% (BBG)

• Nokia released a 'dumb' phone targeting Gen Z (CNBC)

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Deal Flow

M&A / Investments

• Mundipharma International again failed to find a buyer for its China unit which it hoped to sell for $1B (RT)  

• Bank First Busey will merge with CrossFirst Bank in a $917M all-stock deal (GNW) 

• ​​UK engineering company Wood sold its turbines and control systems units (FT) 

• BlackRock initiated an auction for German Amazon aggregator SellerX, once valued at $1B (BBG) 

• Swedish landlord SBB is in talks with potential investors for its residential unit Sveafastigheter (BBG)

VC

• OpenAI is in talks to raise several billion dollars at a $100B+ valuation led by Thrive Capital (WSJ) 

• Apricus Generation, a national distributed solar and battery development platform, raised a $100M Series A led by Blue Marlin Partners and Current Yield (PRN)

• Defense tech startup Parry Labs raised an $80M round led by Capitol Meridian Partners (PRN)

• Comun, a digital bank focused on US immigrants, raised a $21.5M Series A led by Redpoint Ventures (TC)

• B2B customer service platform Pylon raised a $17M Series A led by a16z (TC)

• Bland AI, an AI automating phone calls for enterprises, raised a $16M Series A led by Scale Venture Partners (BW)

• Wethos AI, a startup providing AI insights into team dynamics, raised a $7.5M seed round led by GFT Ventures (PRN)

IPO / Direct Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

• Berkshire Hathaway sold another $982M stake in Bank of America (RT) 

• Oil services provider NMDC Group is planning to raise $877M in what could be UAE's largest IPO this year (BBG) 

• The Indian unit of Italian vehicle transmission manufacturer Carraro International filed for a $216M local IPO (RT) 

Debt 

• Saudi Arabia’s PIF refinanced a $15B loan (BBG)

• Deutsche Bank will lead a $4.3B bond-and-loan offering to help finance Apollo's $6.3B LBOs of casino equipment firm Everi and units of IGT (BBG) 

• The Philippines raised $2.5B via a dollar-bond offering (BBG) 

• Bank of America is leading a $1.8B leveraged loan for PE firm Lone Star Funds' LBO of HVAC giant Carrier Global's commercial and residential fire unit (BBG)

Bankruptcy / Restructuring / Distressed

• Discount home goods retailer Big Lots is considering a filing for bankruptcy (BBG) 

• Japanese trading giant Sumitomo filed to restructure its Ambatovy nickel and cobalt project in Madagascar (BBG)

Crypto Corner

• SEC intends to sue NFT marketplace OpenSea, alleging NFTs are securities (BBG)  

• Texas Republicans are souring on crypto (TE)

Exec’s Picks

• The Chicago Atlantic Digital Mining strategy provides a stable structure for Bitcoin mining investing with monthly distributions and annualized returns of 36 percent to date. Now open to all accredited investors.

• Litquidity is running its annual Labor Day sale on the merch store from now until August 8th. Scoop up some of the hottest items at a 20% discount before inventory runs out!

• In light of Nvidia's market defining earnings, Matt Philips wrote a cool piece observing how Nvidia's stock is eclipsing almost every trend we've seen in history.

• Why you don't have to pick stocks to be successful…timeless wisdom but intriguing insights by Peter Lazaroff nonetheless.

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