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More Problems for Boeing

Before The Bell

As of 1/8/2024 market close.

Markets

US stocks rallied, boosted by tech, ahead of this week’s CPI report and big bank earnings
- The Nasdaq led indices with a 2.2% gain, its best day since November 14
European stocks rose, shaking off negative sentiment seen at the start of trading in 2024

Earnings

Jefferies Q4 profit and revenue fell as the investment bank continued to grapple with a deal slump (BBG)
What we're watching this week:
- Today: Albertsons, Tilray
- Thursday: Infosys
- Friday: JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Citigroup, Wells Fargo, United Health, BlackRock, Delta Air Lines
Full calendar here

Headline Roundup

Bill Gross casts shade on treasuries, sees 10Y ‘overvalued’ at 4% (BBG)
BlackRock says last year’s risk rally has legs ‘well into 2024’ (BBG)
China central bank hints at reserve ratio among tools to boost credit (BBG)
Nvidia rallies to record high as chipmaker announces AI-related components (RT)
Wall Street is trying to nail down timing of Fed’s QT taper (BBG)
Chinese city official spent $21B on ‘vanity projects’ (BBG)
More young bosses want a raise to work from the office (BBG)
JetBlue CEO to step down in February (CNBC)
Oil tankers continue Red Sea movements despite Houthi attacks (RT)
Buying home and auto insurance is becoming impossible (WSJ)
United, Alaska find loose parts on some Boeing 737 MAX 9 jets (WSJ)
Russian billionaire and Sotheby’s fight over ‘the lost Leonardo’ painting (BBG)
A $32B rout may not be end of Tencent’s woes (BBG)
Mike Johnson faces same test as ousted speaker Kevin McCarthy (WSJ)
Tiger Woods and Nike split up after 27 years (WSJ)
Michigan defeats Washington to win national championship (WSJ)

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Deal Flow

M&A / Investments

Cloud services provider Hewlett Packard Enterprise is in advanced talks to buy Juniper Networks for ~$13B (WSJ)
Swiss drugmaker Novartis is in advanced talks to acquire Cytokinetics in a deal that could value drug developer at well over $10B (RT)
Sony Group is planning to call off $10B merger between its India unit with Zee Entertainment Enterprises (BBG)
Medical solutions company Boston Scientific will acquire Axonics, a maker of devices to treat urinary and bowel dysfunction, in a $3.7B transaction (BBG)
Johnson & Johnson will acquire Ambrx Biopharma, a developer of a cancer drug known as antibody-drug conjugates, for $2B cash (CNBC)
Merck will acquire cancer drug developer Harpoon Therapeutics for ~$680M to reinforce its oncology portfolio with immunotherapies (RT)
Deutsche Lufthansa offered concessions to EU merger watchdogs in an attempt to resolve competition concerns regarding its $356M investment in ailing Italian carrier ITA Airways (BBG)
The Italian government will raise its stake in the country’s largest steelmaker, Acciaierie d’Italia from 38% to 66% with a $351M capital injection (BBG)
PE firm Altamont Capital Partners acquired a controlling interest in Mini Melts USA, one of the fastest-growing ice-cream brands in the country (WSJ)

Game development studio Second Dinner raised a $100M Series B led by Griffin Gaming Partners (BW)
Claris Bio, a late-stage biotech company focused on corneal healing, raised a $57M round led by Novo Holdings, RA Capital, and Mass General Brigham Ventures (FN)
Vortexa, a real-time global analytics platform for energy and freight markets, raised a $34M Series C led by Morgan Stanley Expansion Capital (BW)
Contents.com, an Italian startup that helps businesses create multilingual content using AI, raised an $18M Series B led by Alkemia Capital (FN)
Data intelligence startup SynMax raised a $13M round at a $50M valuation led by energy trader Bill Perkins (BW)
Oncology biotech company Cumulus Oncology raised an $11.5M seed round led by Eos Advisory and the Scottish National Investment Bank (FN)
Data-driven patient navigation startup Care Continuity raised a $10M Series A-3 led by Empactful Capital and Viewside Capital Partners (PRN)
Women’s health startup Health in Her HUE raised a $3M seed round led by Seae Ventures (TC)
CharacterX, a provider of a decentralized AI social network, raised a $2.8M seed round at a $30M valuation led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, INCE Capital, and Spark Digital Capital (FN)
QuantHealth, an AI-powered clinical trial design platform, received a $2M strategic investment from Accenture Ventures; bringing its total Series A to $17M (BW)
African fintech startup Cleva raised a $1.5M pre-seed round led by 1984 Ventures (TC)
Rincell Corporation, an advanced chemistry battery cell manufacturer, raised a $1.2M seed round led by NextGen Battery Chem Ventures (PRN)
Midel Photonics, a laser tech startup, raised a $1.1M seed round from High-Tech Gründerfonds and others (FN)

IPO / Direct Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

Shares of Saudi Arabian media giant MBC Group jumped 20% in their debut day of trading after raising $222M (BBG)
Spanish infrastructure company Ferrovial, which is listed on the Euronext Amsterdam and the Spanish Stock Exchanges, began the process to list on the Nasdaq (BBG)

Fundraising

Apollo Global Management is preparing to start fundraising for its second private credit secondaries fund and is targeting ~$2B (BBG)
Blackstone raised $1.3B for its first PE fund for rich individuals (BBG)

Crypto Corner

BlackRock, Ark and several other prospective issuers of bitcoin ETFs amended their applications to the SEC (BBG)
Investment managers disclosed their Bitcoin ETF fees ahead of the SEC’s decision (RT)

Exec’s Picks

ICYMI: Litquidity published his 2023 year-end letter over the weekend. Give it a read to see what’s going on behind the scenes with the Exec Sum team.
Byrne Hobart investigated why companies own their own headquarters.
Ben Thompson published a good piece on whether or not The New York Times has a strong case against OpenAI.

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