PhDs Are the New MBAs

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Good Morning,

NYSE is extending trading nearly around the clock, PE and credit folks saw a mega jump in pay, investors are looking to India for US election safety, the China rally seems to have fizzled, and STEM PhDs are replacing MBA traders in numbers.

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Let's dive in.

Before The Bell

As of 10/25/2024 market close.

Markets

  • US stocks closed mixed as investors positioned for further corporate earnings

    • Nasdaq rose for a seventh-straight week to hit an ATH ahead of crucial Big Tech earnings 

    • S&P and Dow snapped six-week wins streaks 

  • Canada's TSX fell for a fifth-straight day in its worst streak since April

  • US bonds are coming off their worst selloff in six months

  • Yen fell to its lowest in three months on surprise Japan election results

Earnings

  • What we're watching this week:  

    • Today: Ford 

    • Tuesday: Alphabet, AMD, Reddit, McDonald’s, Chipotle, Visa, PayPal, Pfizer

    • Wednesday: Microsoft, Meta, Coinbase, Eli Lilly 

    • Thursday: Apple, Amazon, Intel, Uber

    • Friday: ExxonMobil, Chevron

  • Full calendar here

🇺🇸 Election Forecast

  • Trump's lead holds steady on Kalshi with just one week left to go!

  • Get $20 to trade the election when you deposit $100 or more. See live odds and bet now.

Headline Roundup

  • NYSE will extend trading to 22 hours a day (CNBC)

  • Pay for alternative investment pros rose to $1.4M (WSJ)

  • US stocks are seeing increased volatility this Q3 earnings (FT)

  • Hedge funds cut most China stock purchases since the September rally (RT)

  • European stocks hit by 'Trump effect' as odds favor Republicans (FT)

  • Money funds continued to draw inflows on election caution (RT)

  • Investors look to India as US election jitters pick up (BBG)

  • Catastrophe bond funds suffered virtually no losses from Milton (BBG)

  • Swedish PE giant EQT is eying M&A in push to expand PE reach (FT

  • Bank execs warned EU governments to not interfere with bank M&A (RT)

  • Nvidia briefly overtook Apple as world's most valuable company (RT)

  • Accel filed with SEC to tap thriving secondaries market (BBG)

  • General Atlantic opened a Saudi office (BBG)

  • EY rolls out future-focused ads and slogan after failed breakup (WSJ)

  • Google is developing an AI that can control computers (BBG)

  • TSMC faces severe challenges as free trade falters (BBG)

  • Delta sued CrowdStrike for $500M over its global IT outage (CNBC)

  • Alibaba will settle a shareholder monopoly lawsuit for $433M (RT)

  • PhDs take on MBAs in credit investing as quants jump in (BBG)

  • Israel conducted its largest-ever strike on Iran (WSJ)

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Deal Flow

M&A / Investments

  • Blackstone is in advanced talks to acquire minority stakes in US natural gas pipelines owned by EQT for ~$3.5B

  • Infrastructure investor DigitalBridge is exploring a sale of Brazil's Scala Data Centers, which could fetch over $2B

  • $1.9B-listed marketing data firm Integral Ad Science is exploring a sale after receiving takeover interest

  • PE firm Permira agreed to take a 40% stake in jacket maker K-Way from brand manager BasicNet at a $546M valuation

  • Boeing is weighing options for its troubled space program which includes Starliner and the NASA space station

  • Japanese franchise operator Watami will buy Subway's Japan operations 

  • KKR-owned Swiss vending machine operator Selecta is exploring a sale to deal with upcoming $1.2B debt maturities

VC

  • Self-driving tech firm Waymo raised a $5.6B Series C led by Alphabet, with a16z, Tiger Global, Silver Lake, and others participating

  • Self-driving EV truck startup Outrider raised a $62M Series D led by KDT and NEA

  • EV charging startup MobilityPlus raised a $44M round led by Suma Capital

  • Innovative solar panel startup Merlin Solar raised a $31M Series B led by Fifth Wall 

  • Arcade AI, an AI jewelry designing platform, raised $16M from Sound Ventures, Reid Hoffman, and others

  • Spanish cleantech startup Matteco raised a $15M Series A backed by Grupo ASV, Napali, and Zubi 

  • Twitter-rival Bluesky raised a $15M Series A led by Blockchain Capital 

  • Pharos, a data extraction platform for electronic medical records, raised a $5M seed round led by Felicis 

IPO / Direct Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

  • Indian food delivery giant Swiggy again lowered its $1.4B IPO valuation to $11.3B

  • Chinese self-driving firm WeRide rose 7% in its trading debut after its $441M IPO

Debt

  • Ares and a group of banks will provide a $1.6B debt package to fund KKR’s $3.2B acquisition of a 25% stake in Eni unit Enilive 

  • Brookfield-owned insurer American National is seeking to sell $1.5B of private credit stakes

  • Ares acquired $491M of private credit LP stakes from an unnamed investor

Bankruptcy / Restructuring / Distressed

  • Nexus Capital secured $765M of financing to acquire discount retailer Big Lots out of bankruptcy

  • Defaulted Indonesian clothes maker Pan Brothers proposed a restructuring plan to creditors

  • Evergrande liquidators ceased discussions for a stake sale of its EV unit

Fundraising

  • SFW Mubadala raised $3.1B for its fourth MM PE fund

  • MM PE firm Nautic Partners raises $4.5B for its eleventh fund

Crypto Corner

  • US is probing stablecoin issuer Tether for violating sanctions anti-money laundering rules (WSJ)

  • BoE will press on with digital currency in case banks fall short (RT)

Exec’s Picks

Financial Services Recruiting 💼

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We aim to place strong candidates across private equity, hedge funds, venture capital, growth equity, credit, and investment banking.

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