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Good Morning,

Powell announced that rate hikes are done, the Dow hit a record high closing above 37,000, Citi is paying partial early bonuses to encourage staff departures, Apple hit a record high, Tesla recalled millions of vehicles, and OpenAI is paying Axel Springer millions to use news content.

Let’s dive in.

Before The Bell

Markets

• US stocks rallied after the Fed signaled that they would cut rates several times next year

  • The Dow led indices with a 1.40% gain

• Treasury yields sank due to the Fed’s plan to cut rates by 75 basis points next year 

  • US 2Y yields fell 30 bps

  • US 10Y yields dropped below 4% once again

Earnings

• Adobe shares fell ~5% despite beating Q4 earnings and revenue expectations due to a weaker-than-expected 2024 forecast (CNBC) 

• What we're watching this week:  

  • Today: Costco

  • Friday: Darden Restaurants

• Full calendar here

Headline Roundup

• Fed begins pivot toward lowering rates as inflation decreases (WSJ)

• Dow rallies more than 500 points to record, closes above 37,000 for the first time (CNBC)

• Wall Street traders go all-in on great monetary pivot of 2024 (BBG)

• Credit Suisse disbands China onshore wealth unit, dozens depart (BBG)

• Citigroup offers partial early bonuses to encourage staff departures (BBG)

• California orders freeze on $68B budget deficit (BBG)

• Apple hits record high while big tech stock rally (BBG)

• Etsy stock falls after company lays off 11% of its staff, citing ‘very challenging’ environment (CNBC)

• Tesla recalls millions of vehicles amid probe of autopilot crashes (WSJ)

• A year after audit deal, Chinese IPOs in US are small and rare (BBG)

• Google offers enhanced generative AI features for cloud customers (BBG)

• GM Cruise executives leave after October crash (WSJ)

• Bill Ackman’s clash with Harvard over stock gift reveals the messy world of big donations (WSJ)

• Threads to run tests to make posts available on other social media platforms (RT)

• OpenAI to pay Axel Springer tens of millions to use news content (BBG)

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Deal Flow

M&A / Investments

• Apollo Global Management is weighing a bid for UK's Pension Insurance Corporation that could value the company at $6.3B (RT) 

• Financial services firm Codorus Valley will merge with Orrstown Financial in an all-stock deal to create a bank with $5.2B in assets (RT) 

• A consortium of state-backed Japan Investment Corp, Dai Nippon Printing, and Mitsui Chemicals will buy out Shinko Electric Industries for $4.7B (RT) 

• JBT, a leading global technology solutions provider, improved its offer to acquire food processing company Marel at a $3.7B EV (BW) 

• Centerbridge Partners and Vistria Group, the PE owners of Help at Home, are weighing options including a potential sale of the at-home care provider, which could be valued at $3B or more (BBG)  

• US natural gas producer EQT is exploring a sale of a portfolio of minority stakes in wells in Pennsylvania's Marcellus shale formation, which could be worth over $3B (RT)

• Pembina Pipeline will buy Enbridge's interests in the Alliance Pipeline, Aux Sable, and NRGreen joint ventures for $2.3B (RT) 

• PGT Innovations, a US maker of vinyl and aluminum doors, rebuffed an improved $2.2B cash offer from Miter Brands, a Koch Industries-backed rival (RT)  

• Bain Capital agreed to acquire a controlling stake in Eleda in a deal that values the Swedish infrastructure projects and services firm at ~$1.6B (BBG) 

• Credit investment firm Bayview Asset Management put its insurance arm Oceanview Holdings up for sale; Oceanview has a book value of ~$1B (RT) 

• Haier will acquire Carrier Global’s global commercial refrigeration business at a $775M EV (RT)

• Australia’s competition regulator approved Viva Energy's acquisition of convenience store operator On the Run from Adelaide-based Peregrine for $766M (RT) 

• Elon Musk's SpaceX will sell $500M-$750M of insider shares through a tender offer at an increased valuation of ~$180B (BBG) 

• Bain Capital sold a $448M stake in private Indian lender Axis Bank (RT) 

• Troubled Chinese property developer Country Garden agreed to sell its 1.8% stake in Zhuhai Wanda Commercial Management Group for $428M (RT)

VC

• Tome Biosciences, a programmable genomic integration startup, raised a $213M Series A and B led by a16z, ARCH Venture Partners, GV, and more (FN)

• Essential AI, an enterprise AI startup, raised a $56.5M Series A led by March Capital (VC)

• Twin Health, a startup creating digital twins to improve metabolic disease prevention, raised $50M in funding led by Temasek (PRN)

• Andalusia Labs, a startup improving digital asset risk infrastructure, raised a $48M Series A at a $1B+ valuation led by Lightspeed Venture Partners (TC)

• Aye Finance, an Indian startup that offers digital lending to small firms, raised a $37M Series F led by British International Investment (TC)

• Zuper, a field service management company, raised a $32M Series B led by FUSE (TC)

• Lendo, a Saudi Arabia-based debt crowdfunding marketplace, raised a $28M Series B led by Sanabil Investments (PRN)

• Procurement software startup Pivot raised a $21.6M Series A from Visionaries, Emblem, Anamcara, and Oliver Samwer (TC)

• Israeli cybersecurity startup Zero Networks raised a $20M Series B led by U.S. Venture Partners (PRN)

• Guardz, an AI-based security platform for SMBs, raised an $18M Series A led by Glilot+ (TC)

• Encellin, a biotechnology startup developing a cell encapsulation platform for Type 1 diabetes, raised a $9.9M round led by Khosla Ventures (FN)

• Delphina, a startup building a copilot for data science, raised a $7.5M seed round led by Costanoa Ventures and Radical Ventures (FN)

• Hardware development platform AllSpice.io raised a $6M round led by Root Ventures, Flybridge Capital Partners, Benchstrength, and others (FN)

• Inductive Bio, a startup developing a machine learning platform to speed up the compound optimization process, raised a $4.3M seed round led by a16z Bio + Health and Lux Capital (FN)

• Myrias Optics, a startup building optics for augmented reality and virtual reality, raised a $3M seed round led by Asia Optical (PRN)

• Sustainability packaging startup Woola raised a $2.5M round led by Metaplanet (EU)

• NodeKit, a startup developing a shared sequencer, raised a $1.2M pre-seed round led by Borderless Capital (PRN)

Debt

• Private lenders led by Blackstone lowered the interest rate on Guidehouse’s $3.1B of existing debt to dissuade Bain, which is acquiring Guidehouse from Veritas Capital in a $5.3B deal, from refinancing the debt with banks (BBG) 

• Apollo Global Management is nearing a deal to provide as much as $789M of debt to  Stonegate Pub, Britain’s largest pub chain (BBG)

Bankruptcy / Restructuring

• Signa Prime, the largest unit of troubled real estate group Signa, is urgently seeking $647M of financing from funds as it prepares to file for insolvency (BBG) 

• Online luxury retailer Farfetch is in talks with Apollo Global Management to secure emergency funding to shore up its finances (RT)

Fundraising

• China's GAC Group, a state-owned automobile manufacturer, will set up a $4.2B investment fund to strengthen its business development in the new energy vehicle industry

• PE firm Ara Partners raised $2.8B for its third fund to invest in decarbonizing industrial sectors (AX) 

• State investor Mubadala Investment and Ares Management will partner with Abu Dhabi’s Aldar Properties on a $1B private credit fund that will invest in real estate across the UK and Europe (BBG) 

• Covalence Investment Partners, a new firm founded by two former executives of Warburg Pincus, is seeking $750M to invest in the oil market (WSJ)

• Bob Diamond’s Atlas Merchant Capital is seeking to raise over $500M to invest in US regional banks (BBG)

Crypto Corner

• Montenegro extended the detention of Terraform Labs co-founder Do Kwon at the request of the US and South Korea (BBG) 

• The US CFTC approved a plan from Chicago cryptocurrency derivatives exchange and brokerage Bitnomial to also act as its own registered clearinghouse (RT) 

• Coinbase will begin offering spot trading on its international exchange from today (RT) 

Exec’s Picks

• Derek Thompson wrote about how anxiety became a content category of its own.

• Casey Newton covered the implications of Epic Games’ trial win vs Google.

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