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Good Morning,

SBF was found guilty on all seven charges against him, Goldman promoted 608 to MD, Apple warned of a sluggish holiday quarter, the CEO of the National Association of Realtors stepped down, Bezos is moving to Miami, Wall Street titans fueled an Ivy League donor revolt, and Roku led a media stock rally.

If you joined the padel movement and you’re looking for a top-performing racket, check out today’s sponsor, TWOTWO.

Let’s dive in.

Before The Bell

Markets

• US stocks jumped for their best day since June as investors bet that the Fed was done raising rates for 2023

  • The S&P led indices with a 1.89% gain

• European stocks jumped thanks to the US Fed’s decision to hold interest rates steady

Earnings

• Apple beat Q4 analyst earnings and revenue estimates but revealed that overall sales fell for the fourth quarter in a row (CNBC)

• Starbucks shares jumped 9% after it reported better-than-expected Q4 earnings and revenue, fueled by strong US demand for pricier drinks (CNBC)

• Eli Lilly shares rose 5% after posting a surprise Q3 adjusted profit and beating revenue expectations thanks to its diabetes and weight loss drug Mounjaro (RT)

• Shopify shares surged 22% after reporting Q3 earnings and revenue that beat analyst expectations (BBG)

• Block shares jumped 18% after beating Q3 earnings and revenue expectations thanks to strong growth in both Cash App and Square revenue (CNBC)

• Coinbase shares fell 5% despite beating Q3 revenue expectations due to a trading volume decline for the second quarter in a row (RT)

• What we're watching this week:

  • Today: Enbridge, Cinemark, Cboe

• Full calendar here

Headline Roundup

• Goldman Sachs to promote 608 to managing director, down from 2021 (RT)

• Apple warns of sluggish holiday quarter after China slowdown (BBG)

• CEO of the National Association of Realtors steps down early after commissions verdict (BBG)

• Amazon boosted junk ads, deleted messages to thwart antitrust probe, FTC says (BBG)

• Venture capital cools on supply-chain tech startups (WSJ)

• Amazon founder Jeff Bezos is moving to Miami (BBG)

• Stellantis to give big raises, invest billions in UAW deal (RT)

• Wall Street titans help to fuel Ivy League donor revolt (CNBC)

• Amazon is closing style apparel stores as grocery push ramps up (BBG)

• Media stocks pop as Roku rally lifts the sector (CNBC)

• Microsoft vows to revamp security products after repeated hacks (BBG)

• Elon Musk asks court to reject SEC’s bid to force him to testify in Twitter probe (RT)

• Delta lays off some corporate workers to cut costs (RT)

• The fight over return-to-office is turning into a disability dispute (WSJ)

• Gas is flowing to Egypt from Israel after halting last week (BBG)

• Russia’s Wagner Group plans to send air defenses to Hezbollah, US says (WSJ)

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Deal Flow

M&A / Investments

• The finance committee of Canada's House of Commons lower chamber asked Ottawa to reject Royal Bank of Canada's $9.8B acquisition of HSBC's domestic unit due to lack of competition in the financial sector (RT)

• Theme park operators Cedar Fair and Six Flags Entertainment agreed to merge to create a combined company worth $8B, including debt (RT)

• Siemens Healthineers is weighing options for its in-vitro diagnostics operations, which could fetch up to $8B in a sale (BBG)

• EQT resumed talks to acquire Global Switch Holdings in a deal that could value the data center company at ~$6.5B (BBG)

• Lloyds Banking Group rebuffed the latest $1.2B offer from Barclay family to reclaim British newspaper group, the Telegraph (FT)

• TPG-backed hospital operator Columbia Asia and a consortium led by Affinity Partners emerged as the two shortlisted bidders for buying $1B Asia-focused private hospital group Ramsay Sime Darby Health Care (WSJ)

• Manufacturer Fox Factory Holding will acquire American sports manufacturer Marucci Sports at a $572M EV (GNW)

• Zurich Insurance Group will purchase a 51% stake in Kotak Mahindra Bank's general insurance arm for ~$487M (RT)

• Clean energy solutions company TransAlta will acquire power generator Heartland Generation from Energy Capital Partners in a $475M deal (PRNW)

• Information management company Iron Mountain will acquire IT asset disposition service provider Regency Technologies for $200M (BW)

• US investment firm RedBird Capital Partners is weighing a sale of French football club Toulouse FC (BBG)

VC

• Terremoto Biosciences, a biotechnology startup developing small molecule medicines, raised a $175M Series B from EcoR1 Capital, Novo Holdings, and more (BW)

• TRAFiX, a provider of order and execution management software, raised $50M in funding from Marlin Equity Partners (PRN)

• Memo Therapeutics, a late-stage biotech company developing therapeutic antibodies, raised a $27.5M Series C led by Pureos Bioventures (FN)

• Stellaromics, a startup providing in-situ spatial multi-omics technology, raised a $25M Series A led by Plaisance Capital Management and more (PRN)

• Free Market Health, a healthcare technology startup, raised a $20M round led by Questa Capital (FN)

• Employee financial wellness startup Payroll Integrations raised a $20M Series A led by Arthur Ventures (TC)

• Security platform Xage Security raised a $20M Series B led by Piva Capital, March Capital, and others (TC)

• Genezen, a cell and gene therapy contract development and manufacturing organization, raised an $18.5M growth equity round led by Ampersand Capital Partners (PRN)

• Hyperspectral imagery startup Kuva Space raised a $17.6M Series A led by Voima Ventures and Nordic Foodtech (TC)

• ProJenX, a startup developing brain-penetrant therapies for ALS and other brain diseases, raised a $15M Series A led by Medical Excellence Capital (PRN)

• AI automation startup Accelex raised a $15M Series A led by FactSet and others (FN)

• AdaptX, a self-serve clinical management solution company, raised a $10M round led by Cercano Management (FN)

• Govly, a market network for public sector procurement, raised a $9.5M Series A led by Insight Partners (PRN)

• Command line interface startup Charm raised a $6M round led by Gradient Ventures (TC)

• Work Shield, a Dallas-based workplace misconduct incident management tech company, raised a $6M round led by Ballast Point Ventures (FN)

• Factory, an AI platform bringing autonomy to software engineering, raised a $5M seed round co-led by Sequoia and Lux Capital (TC)

• Dashtoon, a generative AI platform that enables anyone to turn their stories into digital comics, raised a $5M seed round led by Matrix Partners India and Stellaris Venture Partners (TC)

• Slooh, a Washington Depot, CT-based startup that offers live online telescope feeds, raised a ~$5M round led by Connecticut Innovations (FN)

• Treads, an AI-powered car maintenance subscription, raised a $4.6M seed round led by Mucker Capital (PRN)

• GPS positioning startup Zephr raised a $3.5M seed round led by Space Capital and First Spark Ventures (TC)

• Responsiv, an AI assistant for in-house legal teams, raised a $3M seed round led by Greylock (BW)

• Dutch fintech Fero raised a $3M seed round from Coatue, Volta Ventures, and Antler (EU)

• 1up, a provider of a knowledge automation platform, raised $2.5M in funding from 8-Bit Capital, RRE Ventures, Alumni Venture Partners, and more (FN)

• Sweep, a platform that automates basic dev tasks, raised a $2M round from Goat Capital, Replit CEO Amjad Masad, Replit VP of AI Michele Catasta, and Exceptional Capital at a $25M valuation (TC)

• ClinOne, a provider of a technology platform connecting, informing, and empowering patients in global clinical trials, raised a $2M Series A led by Boulder Ventures (FN)

IPO / Direct Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

• Ibotta chose Goldman Sachs and Citi to help it prepare for an IPO that could value the digital marketing software firm at $2B or more (BBG)

• Investcorp Capital is seeking to raise up to $403M in its UAE listing (BBG)

• Portuguese lender Novo Banco will be operationally prepared for an IPO in the first half of 2024 (RT)

Debt

• Six Flags Entertainment lined up $3.1B of debt financing to back its all-stock merger with Cedar Fair Entertainment; the funding includes a $2.3B 364-day term loan from Goldman Sachs (BBG)

• Ford Motor Credit raised $2.8B through a two-part bond sale (BBG)

• Adani Green Energy is in talks with a group of foreign lenders to borrow as much as $1.8B (BBG)

• SQM, the world’s second-largest lithium supplier, raised $750M through a sale of dollar-denominated green bonds (BBG)

Fundraising

• Brookfield Asset Management closed its third global infrastructure debt fund at over $6B (BBG)

• Bee Partners, a VC specializing in deep tech pre-seed investments, closed its fourth fund at over $50M (FN)

Crypto Corner

• Sam Bankman-Fried found guilty on all seven charges against him (AX)

• PayPal received a subpoena from the SEC requesting documentation about its USD stablecoin (CD)

Exec’s Picks

• From comprehensive compliance policy templates to over 150 integrations with your core technology services, the Secureframe platform significantly increases the speed with which organizations can confidently begin a SOC 2 audit, without increasing overhead or slowing your team down. Schedule a personalized demo let us show you how.

• Jack Raines explained how the creator economy is doing just fine, despite dozens of creator economy startups going out of business.

• Harry McCracken wrote a cool profile covering Figma and its founder/CEO Dylan Field in Fast Company.

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