Good Morning,

Stocks started off Q2 in the green, China is getting clapped by Covid, oil is back below $100 per barrel, the social security age keeps ticking back, Peru raised its minimum wage, and Fast had slow revenue growth.

Wild weekend of college basketball. Duke cost me some stacks in their loss to UNC.

Reminder that we've got some big (and exclusive) investment opportunities coming to those in the Litquidity accredited investor / qualified purchaser list later this month. Link here to fill out the form.

It's Monday and it's time to grind. 

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

• Markets edged higher Friday, with the major averages all closing slightly green

• The price of US benchmark West Texas Intermediate fell below $100 per barrel after the Biden administration pledged to release more strategic oil reserves

• The March jobs report came in worse-than-expected with the US economy adding 431K jobs (vs. 490K expected)

Earnings

• What we’re watching this week:

  • Wed: Levi’s 

• Full calendar here

Headline Roundup

• Europe warns that Russia faces news sanctions for ‘war crimes’ (BBG)

• Iran says agreement to revive nuclear deal with US is close (BBG)

• Peru raises minimum wage as surging prices spur protests (BBG)

• China Covid crisis grows as cases surge (BBG)

• KKR plans to abandon Telecom Italia deal without due diligence (BBG)

• Google target Mandiant sued by shareholder over acquisition (BBG)

• Cigna prevails over Anthem in $14.8B drug-cost claim (BBG)

• North Carolina says farewell to Duke, Coach K says farewell to it all (WSJ)

• Social Security’s retirement age is moving to 67 (CNBC)

• Sam Bankman-Fried, a 30 year old crypto billionaire, wants to give his fortune away (BBG)

A Message From Composer

I launched my own quant strategy - that you can actually invest in.

By now you guys know about Composer - the no-code super tool that lets you build a quant strategy without needing a PHD. (And if you don’t know, now you know).

And by now you also know that our boy J-Pow has been cranking the cash machine to 11 to send inflation to the sun.

So I built a strategy on Composer that targets leveraged exposure to assets and equity sectors that have historically performed well against inflation. The strategy deleverages and shifts into SPY if the S&P 500 falls below its 200-day moving average. 

The best part - you can invest directly in this strategy for free.

Before Composer, if I wanted to launch my own quant fund I would have had to beg stuffy LPs for money, register in the Cayman Islands, buy a Bloomberg Terminal and learn how to code.

But with Composer I was able to create an inflation-busting quant-strategy in seconds, and now you can too.

Think of Composer as the final soul-stone in your investing gauntlet - with one snap, your ability to (potentially) outperform the market is…inevitable.

Learn more about my “Leveraged Sectors” symphony and Composer here.*

*Investing in securities involves risks, including the risk of loss. Composer Technologies Inc., SEC Registered RIA. All charts and symbols are provided for illustrative purposes only and are not intended as recommendations to purchase or sell any security and do not reflect actual market conditions, stock performance, or AI decisions.

Deal Flow

M&A / Investments

• New Mountain Capital is in advanced talks to buy Change Healthcare’s payment integrity business, ClaimsXten, in a potential $2B+ deal (BBG)

• Kasikornbank, Thailand’s second-biggest lender, is considering options for its asset management business including a sale at a potential $2B+ valuation (BBG)

• Carmaker Audi raised its offer to buy a stake in sports car brand McLaren’s Formula 1 unit to $718M (BBG)

• Russian energy giant Gazprom has exited its German subsidiary Gazprom Germania (BBG)

VC

• Indian mobile gaming startup MPL is in talks to raise funding from a number of investors including crypto exchange FTX (TC)

• Chinese fast fashion e-commerce startup Shein is in talks to raise $1B at a $100B valuation in a new funding round (BBG)

IPO / Direct Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

• IndoSpace, a developer and manager of industrial and logistics properties in India, is considering a Singapore IPO that could raise up to $700M (BBG)

• Dialysis treatment product maker Wego Blood Purification is weighing a Hong Kong IPO that could raise ~$500M (BBG)

SPAC

• Bitcoin mining and infrastructure startup Prime Blockchain agreed to merge with 10X Capital Venture Acquisition Corp II in a $1.25B deal (RT)

Fundraising

• Early stage startup studio and venture fund Expa raised a $200M fund (TC)

Crypto Corner

• Oklahoma joins widening group of US states mulling tax incentives for bitcoin miners (TBC)

• Turkey seeks 40,000-year jail sentences for Thodex CEO (TBC)

• Crypto hardware wallet Trezor issues warning about newsletter phishing attack (TBC)

• Pudgy Penguins NFT collection sold to Netz Capital for $2.5M (DC)

Exec's Picks

• Last week, it was reported that one-click checkout provider Fast only generated $600k in revenue in 2021. As a result, the startup failed to raise a $100M Series C. The Information's Malique Morris broke down everything that has gone wrong with Fast here.

• After years of double digit gains, Chase Coleman's Tiger Global is off to a rough start, down 34% in Q1 of 2022. Bloomberg's Hema Parmar covered Tiger's 2022 struggles 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've got 40+ jobs spanning IB, S&T, VC, tech, private equity, DeFi, crypto, CorpDev and more. We sift through all the noise on LinkedIn, Indeed, Monster, etc. so you don't have to.

Meme Cleanser

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

Catch the latest episode of our Big Swinging Decks podcast, presented by CoinFLEX.US, on Spotify and Apple Music 🤝