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Inflation and omicron continue to bring the sickness back to the forefront. The Thursday move erased a rally in Wed's sessions that followed the Fed's announcement of a more aggressive plan to wind down its asset purchases. As investors continued to digest the news, they appeared to be rotating from high-growth tech names to consumer staples.

Let's dive in.

Before The Bell

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Markets

• The Santa Claus rally will have to wait, as equity markets showed red yesterday, with big tech names pulling down major indexes and leading the tech-heavy Nasdaq to log its worst day since September, closing down 2.47%

• Investors continued to digest the Fed’s announcement of a more aggressive tapering plan as well as the Bank of England announcing that it is hiking its key policy rate 15 bps to 0.25%

• Another thing to keep tabs on continues to be the spread of the omicron variant, as the positivity rate in NYC and other major cities continues to climb

Earnings

• Rivian shares plunged 10%+ AH yesterday after the company announced that it expects to end up ‘a few hundred vehicles short’ of its 2021 production goal of 1,200 (CNBC)

• Adobe tanked 10% in trading yesterday after announcing Q4 revenue beat estimates but the Q1’22 revenue forecast fell well below analysts’ predictions (CNBC)

• FedEx shares jumped 4%+ AH after the delivery giant showed high Q2 revenue growth due to rising rates offsetting higher costs, and the company announced a $5B share repurchase plan (WSJ)

• Accenture posted a beat-and-raise earnings report with 20%+ growth in both revenue and EPS and record new bookings (BW)

• What we’re watching today: Darden Restaurants, Winnebago

• Full calendar here

Headline Roundup

• Morgan Stanley CEO Gorman walks back return-to-office push (CNBC)

• CDC panel recommends Pfizer and Moderna shots over J&J due to rate blood clots (CNBC)

• Harris says she and Biden have not yet discussed running for re-election (WSJ) 

• Former McDonald’s CEO Steve Easterbrook returns $105M+ in compensation to resolve legal dispute (WSJ)

• As Bank of England raises benchmark rate, Europe’s top central banks take differing approaches (WSJ)

• NYC sees offices empty empty, shows canceled as Covid wave sweeps in (BBG)

• Peloton CEO John Foley drops $55M on Hamptons compound as company faces increased scrutiny (NYP)

• Apple builds new team in SoCal to bring more wireless chips in-house (BBG)

• Alden sues Lee for rejecting $141M newspaper chain buyout (BBG)

• Citadel, Blackstone allow remote work again as omicron rages (BBG)

• Electric-start Rivian plans new $5B factory complex in Georgia (WSJ)

• TikTok to adjust its algorithm to avoid negative reinforcement (WSJ)

• CEO of GM’s autonomous vehicle branch Cruise is leaving the company (CNBC)

• Adidas is launching an NFT collection with exclusive access to streetwear drops (TV)

• LionTree explores accepting cryptocurrency for services (RT)

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Deal Flow

M&A

• Enterprise-software Oracle is in talks to buy electronic-medical-records company Cerner in a potential $30B deal (WSJ)

• Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri has backing from its biggest shareholder for a capital increase of up to $791M that would let it make an offer for assets owned by defense company Leonardo SpA (BBG)

• Warner Music agreed to buy 300 Entertainment, an independent record label whose artists include Megan Thee Stallion and Young Thug, for ~$400M (BBG)

• Digital financial platform MoneyLion agreed to buy embedded financial marketplace Even Financial in a $440M deal (BW)

• Activist investor Cat Rock Capital Management agreed to increase its stake in food delivery company Just Eat Takeaway.com even as shares continue to fall (BBG)

• BMO has expressed interest in buying BNP Paribas’ US banking arm which may be worth ~$13.7B (BBG)

• Investors led by Blackstone and Abu Dhabi Investment Authority agreed to buy 2.27% and 1.25% stakes (respectively) in shadow lender Indiabulls Housing Finance in a combined $184M deal (BBG)

• Swiss investment firm Vontobel agreed to buy a Zurich-based unit of UBS that advises US clients (BBG)

  • United Talent Agency agreed to buy marketing and media consulting firm MediaLink for $125M (WSJ)

• Spotify agreed to buy podcast technology company Whooshkaa (TC)

• Leonard Green & Partners and Harvest Partners agreed to buy a stake in service-based systems integration company Convergint (YHOO)

VC

• Spanish proptech startup Clikalia raised a $518M in funding: a $70M equity round led by Fifth Wall and a $448M debt financing from Deutsche Bank (TC)

• Roke, which develops marketing technology for online shopping, raised a $325M Series E at a $1.95B valuation led by Tiger Global Management (WSJ)

• Database management startup Cockroach Labs raised a $278M Series F at a $5B valuation led by Greenoaks (TC)

• Vertical farming startup Infarm raised a $200M Series D at a $1B+ valuation led by Qatar Investment Authority (TC)

• Cloud communications startup Dialpad raised $170M at a $2.2B in a funding round led by Iconiq Capital (BBG)

• Mavrck, a startup helping brands and media companies source and engage with influencers, raised a $120M in growth equity from Summit Partners (TC)

• Software startup Gtmhub raised a $120M Series C led by Index Ventures (TC)

• African women-focused PE fund Alitheia IDF raised a $100M to invest in African gender-diverse businesses (TC)

• Weight care management startup Found raised a $100M Series B at a $600M valuation led by WestCap (TC)

• German revenue-based financing platform Re:cap raised a $111.5M seed round led by Felix Capital and Project A Ventures (TC)

• Taxdoo, a startup providing e-commerce companies with API tools for tax compliance and accounting, raised a $64M Series B led by Tiger Global (TC)

• Amsterdam-based educational technology startup Lepaya raised a $40M Series B in a round let by Target Global (BBG)

• Stockwits, a social-media platform used by day traders and other retail investors, raised $30M at a $210M valuation in a round led by Alameda Research Ventures (BBG)

• AI machine vision startup Elementary raised a $30M Series B led by Threshold Ventures (TC)

• French online supermarket startup La Belle Vie raised a $28M Series B led by Left Lane and Quadrille Capital (TC)

• Sweep, an enterprise SaaS startup for measuring carbon emission, raised a $22M Series A led by Balderton Capital (TC)

• Cloud-based payments startup Silverflow raised a $17M Series A led by Coatue (TC)

• Crypto startup Jadu raised a $7M round led by General Catalyst (TC)

• Climate-resistant crop technology startup Phytoform raised a $5.7M round led by Eniac Ventures (TC)

• VR and AR device management platform ManageXR raised a $4M seed round led by Rally Ventures (TC)

• AI-powered data platform Continual raised a $4M seed round led by Amplify Partners (TC)

• Sperta, a startup helping fintechs better manage fraud risk, raised a $3M seed round led by Kindred Ventures and Uncork Capital (TC)

IPO / Direct Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

• Delivery startup Gopuff is in talks with banks about a late 2022 IPO (BBG)

• PE firm TPG filed for a US IPO (BBG)

SPAC

• Indian edtech company Byju is in talks to merge with a Churchill Capital-backed SPAC in a potential $45B deal (TC)

• Digital identity verification and fraud prevention company TeleSign agreed to merge with North Atlantic Acquisition Corp in a $1.3B deal (RT)

• Bowling alley operator Bowlero debuted yesterday after merger with Isos Acquisition Corp (CNNC)

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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 50+ 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.

If you're looking to hire candidates and want to post a job, all you have to do is hit "+ Hire Talent" on the top right of the job board. If you want the role to be featured on Exec Sum, check out our "Featured" and "Premium" tiers.

To Candidates: We've also partnered up with Portal Jobs for a more hands-on approach to matching talent with relevant jobs. Fill out the form here and we'll get to work on placing you in a relevant gig 🤝

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