Short Start to 2025

Author

Litquidity Capital
January 03, 2025

Together with

Good Morning,

Hedge funds posted a solid 2024, activist investing campaigns hit a record high, Nvidia's stock surge has made billionaires out of board members in a rare first, and Hindenburg kicked off 2025 with a scathing short report on Carvana.

Check out today's sponsor, OLarry, a personalized tax service for individuals and businesses with emerging wealth or high net worth.

Let's dive in.

Before The Bell

As of 1/2/2025 market close.

Markets

  • US stocks edged lower in the new year's first trading session 

    • S&P and Nasdaq notched their fifth-straight daily decline, the longest streak since April

  • UK's FTSE 100 hit a two-week high in its best day since November

  • China's CSI 300 dropped 2.9% in its worst first day since 2016

  • Ghana's GSE index rose 56% to become Africa's best stock index and the world's second-best 

  • Oil continued to rise past two-month highs

  • Cattle futures rose to a fresh record 

  • Dollar surged to a two-year high against euro and an eight-month high against pound

  • Yen traded near a five-month low

Earnings

Prediction Markets

  • With playoff season approaching, some are betting on major AI startups to make an impression.

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Headline Roundup

  • Jobless claims hit an eight-month low (RT)

  • Reserves at Fed sink below $3T to the lowest since 2020 (BBG)

  • PBOC plans to cut rates from 1.5% in historic monetary policy shift (FT)

  • BoE allotted a near record amount at its first short-term repo of 2025 (RT)

  • Multi-strat hedge funds delivered again in 2024 (BBG)

  • Hedge funds Citadel and Millennium gained 15% in 2024 (FT)

  • Citadel offers to let clients take profits but most decline (BBG)

  • Activist investing campaigns hit a record high in 2024 (RT)

  • Activist Elliott had its busiest year since 2018 (WSJ)

  • Blue-chip firms sold $15B of debt to start January spree (BBG)

  • Wall Street banks expect gold to rally further this year (FT)

  • Munis defaults hit a three-year high (BBG) 

  • Australia's SWF sought to soften their investment mandate (BBG)

  • Pricey Indian stocks turned foreigners into net sellers in 2024 (BBG)

  • Seven billionaire founders rode India's IPO boom in 2024 (BBG)

  • Japan active funds, like global peers, underperform passive rivals (FT)

  • Nvidia's $2T stock surge mints three board billionaires (BBG)

  • Hindenburg shorted Carvana (BBG)

  • Big 3 retailers are tightening their grip on US consumers (WSJ)

  • Meta named Republican Joel Kaplan as president of global affairs (FT)

  • Tesla full-year deliveries fell for first time since 2011 (WSJ)

  • China EV leader BYD posted record sales in 2024 (FT)

  • Global insurance rates fall 1% last year in first drop since 2017 (RT)

  • Reinsurance costs fell 8% as sector deploys record capital (FT)

  • 90% of Norway new car sales last year were EVs (RT)

  • US 30-year mortgage rates jumped to six-month highs back near 7% (RT)

  • Americans are becoming more and more productive (WSJ)

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Deal Flow

M&A / Investments

  • Chinese electronics manufacturer Wingtech plans to sell its product integration business to focus on semiconductors

  • Mobvista is exploring a sale of its mobile advertising platform Mintegral after receiving takeover interest from Bain Capital

VC

  • Rembrand, an AI platform for virtual product placement, raised a $23M Series A led by super{set}

  • Deterrence, a startup building tech to automate the production process of energetics, raised $10.1M seed round led by Riot Ventures

  • Fairly, a vacation rental management platform, raised a $10.1M pre-seed round

Bankruptcy / Restructuring / Distressed

  • Australian cobalt miner Jervois Global will go private in a restructuring and receive a $145M capital injection from lender Millstreet Capital Management

  • Bankrupt restaurant chain TGI Fridays received court approval to sell 9 locations to restaurant operator Mera for $34.5M

Crypto Sum Snapshot

  • Terraform Labs co-founder Do Kwon pled not guilty to US fraud charges (BBG) 

  • Subscribe to our Crypto Sum newsletter for the full stories on everything crypto!

Exec’s Picks

Financial Services Recruiting 💼

If you're a junior banker looking for your next career move, check out Litney Partners, a recruiting firm established by Litquidity and Whitney Partners (the oldest purely financial services executive search and consulting firm).

We aim to place strong candidates across private equity, hedge funds, venture capital, growth equity, credit, and investment banking.

We're currently seeking talent for some incredible roles. Head over to Litney Partners to drop your resume / create your profile and we'd love to get in touch!

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