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Good Morning,

Investors are poising for an end-of-year stock market rally, Goldman and Morgan Stanley have divergent rate-cut predictions, Biden and Xi are gearing up for a high-stakes meeting, Boeing is closing in on a major deal with Emirates, and ‘The Marvels’ disappointed in the box office.

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Let’s dive in.

Before The Bell

Markets

• US stocks jumped as Treasury yields stabilized

  • The Nasdaq led indices with a 2.05% gain

• European stocks fell on Friday, led by the FTSE, after the UK economy reported no growth in Q3

Earnings

• What we're watching this week:  

  • Today: Tyson Foods

  • Tuesday: Home Depot, Sea Limited

  • Wednesday: Target, Palo Alto Networks, Cisco, JD.com, 

  • Thursday: Walmart, Alibaba, Applied Materials, Macy’s

  • Friday: BJ’s

• Full calendar here

Headline Roundup

• Investors are embracing stocks and eyeing a year-end rally in markets (WSJ)

• Oil prices fall on worries of waning demand in US and China (RT)

• Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley diverge on Fed rate-cut forecasts (BBG)

• As Biden and Xi gear up for a high-stakes meeting, experts have low expectations (CNBC)

• Boeing closes in on major deal with Emirates for its 777X jets (BBG)

• Indian students flock to US colleges, offsetting drop from China (BBG)

• Australia struggles to restart port operations after cyberattack (BBG)

• ‘The Marvels’ disappoints at box office, showcasing Disney’s studio challenge (WSJ)

• Apple’s top iPhone supplier goes to outer space with new satellites (BBG)

• Chinese chipmaker YMTC sues Micron alleging patent infringement (RT)

• Japan’s wholesale inflation slows sharply in sign of waning cost pressures (RT)

• A $20B week marks reopening of market for EM borrowers (BBG)

• Payments app Zelle begins refunds for imposter scams after Washington pressure (RT)

• Tens of thousands protest across Spain at proposed Catalan amnesty (RT)

• Hopes of a US nuclear renaissance sink with NuScale (BBG)

• Taylor Swift’s postponed Argentina show prompts airline to waive flight-change fees (CNBC)

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Deal Flow

M&A / Investments

• Hungary is working with French infrastructure giant Vinci in a plan to purchase Budapest Airport; an earlier acquisition attempt valued the airport at $4.7B (BBG)

• AstraZeneca paid $185M upfront and up to an additional $1.8B to license an anti-obesity experimental pill from China's Eccogene (RT)

• Japanese state-backed fund INCJ sold almost all of its stake in semiconductor manufacturer Renesas Electronics worth $1.8B (RT)

• Private healthcare operator Columbia Asia Healthcare will acquire Ramsay Sime Darby Health Care from Australia’s Ramsay Health Care and Malaysian conglomerate Sime Darby for $1.2B (BBG)

• German state-lender KfW acquired a 25% stake in local utility EnBW's TransnetBW for ~$1.1B (RT)

• Walgreens Boots Alliance cut its stake in Cencora through a share sale worth ~$674M; it now owns a 15% stake in the drug wholesale company (RT)

• Lombard Investments is considering selling a stake in Hasfarm Holdings in a deal that could value the floricultural firm at ~$600M, including debt (BBG)

• Swedish truckmaker Volvo won an auction for the battery business of troubled Proterra in the United States for $210M (RT)

• TotalEnergies is nearing a deal to buy a fleet of natural gas-fired power plants in Texas from independent power producer TexGen Power (BBG)

• Bohai Leasing, a listed arm of failed Chinese conglomerate HNA Group, is studying potential asset sales, including a 70% stake in Avolon, the world’s fourth-largest plane lessor, after struggling to refinance some of its debt (BBG)

• Societe Generale is exploring a sale of its German consumer finance business Hanseatic Bank (BBG)

• Mining company Vale will sell a 14% stake in its Indonesian nickel miner Vale Indonesia (RT)

• Sydell Group is exploring a sale of its NoMad Hotels brand and is gauging potential interest from buyers including Hilton Worldwide Holdings and other major operators (BBG)

VC

• Databricks, a data and AI startup, raised an undisclosed amount in a Series I at a $43B valuation led by Amazon Web Services, CapitalG, and Microsoft (FN)

• Firefly Aerospace, an end-to-end space transportation company, raised $300M in funding at a $1.5B valuation led by AE Industrial Partners (PRN)

• Technique Solaire, a French solar energy distributor, raised a $213.7M funding round from Bpifrance and Crédit Agricole (EU)

• Roller, a Melbourne-based provider of cloud-based venue management software, raised $50M in growth funding led by Insight Partners (FN)

• Virtual cardiometabolic care services startup Vida Health raised a $28.5M round led by General Atlantic, Ally Bridge, and more (BW)

• DeepInfra, a startup providing a scalable infrastructure for running AI models through an API, raised an $8M seed round led by A.Capital and Felicis Ventures (FN)

• Ridepanda, a provider of a micro-mobility-as-a-benefit platform, raised $7.5M in debt and equity led by Blackhorn Ventures and Yamaha Motor Ventures (FN)

• Surglasses, a Taiwan-based company advancing AR-augmented reality surgical navigation systems, raised a $6.5M pre-Series A round led by Taiwania Capital (FN)

• Singapore-based fintech startup EduFi raised a $6.1M pre-seed round led by Zayn VC (TC)

• PostgresML, a startup allowing developers to prototype and deploy AI applications on PostgreSQL, raised a $4.7M seed round led by Amplify Partners (FN)

• Octarine Bio, a Copenhagen-based synthetic biology platform company, raised $4.6M in funding led by Óskare Capital, Unconventional Ventures, and The Footprint Firm (FN)

• LiveKid, a provider of a management application for kindergartens and nurseries, raised $3.4M in funding led by Inovo VC (FN)

• AI-powered wealth management platform Era raised a $3.1M seed round led by Northzone (FN)

IPO / Direct Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

• Futures and options broker Marex Group is preparing for an IPO in New York two years after it pulled plans to list in London (BBG)

Debt

• German cable operator Tele Columbus is in advanced talks with creditors for a deal that includes a $320M cash injection from shareholders and a maturity extension on its debt (BBG)

• French Ligue 1 football club Olympique Lyonnais reached a deal to refinance $341M of private placement notes (BBG)

Bankruptcy / Restructuring

• China's embattled property developer Country Garden aims to have a plan to restructure its offshore debt by the end of this year (RT)

Fundraising

• Singapore firm Everstone Capital Asia is seeking to raise $1B for its latest PE fund, which will invest in Southeast Asia and India (BBG)

Crypto Corner

• FTX sued crypto exchange Bybit Fintech to recover cash and digital assets valued at ~$953M (BBG)

• Michael Saylor’s massive bitcoin bet crossed $1B in unrealized profit (CD)

Exec’s Picks

• While US stocks have trounced international markets for the past 15 years, it might be time to add some foreign exposure to your portfolio, according to The Wall Street Journal.

• Money market funds have been hot in 2023 as interest rates continued to climb. Ben Carlson discussed what might happen to these funds once rates come back down.

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