Shut Up and DJ

Author

Litquidity Capital
August 13, 2025

Together with

Good Morning,

Trump told David Solomon to focus on being a DJ, CEOs have completely U-turned on recession fears, Q3 M&A volume may hit $1T for just the second-time ever, and Musk and Altman are fighting again; in court, on Twitter, over Apple, with a rival for Neuralink, and every arena in between.

Mizuho Equity Research Analyst Dan Dolev shared an institutional perspective on how stablecoins are reshaping global money movement It's a short but insightful read.

Let's dive in.

Before The Bell

As of 8/12/2025 market close.

Click here to learn more about the Litquidity portfolios and subscribe to the strategies on Autopilot.*

Markets

  • US stocks rallied after cooling inflation data stoked bets of a September Fed rate cut 

    • S&P and Nasdaq hit fresh ATHs

    • Traders fully priced in a 25 bps September rate cut and over 50% odds of two more 25 bps cuts in October and December 

  • US short-term Treasuries rallied 

  • Germany 30Y yields climbed to 3.3% to the highest in fourteen years

  • China 30Y yields hit 2.01% in its highest since April 1

  • European AT1 yields closed at 5.7% for a 255 bps spread, the tightest ever

  • India bonds dropped to a four-month low on stimulus worries

  • EM currencies rallied on US inflation data

    • Mexican peso recovered all losses since Trump’s election

Earnings

  • CoreWeave beat Q2 revenue estimates and narrowed losses on a 300% sales increase aided by its partnership with OpenAI and issued optimistic Q3 and FY guidance, though revenue growth continues to be capacity constrained amid high demand and stiff competition from cloud giants such as Amazon (CNBC)

  • eToro beat Q2 earnings and revenue estimates as retail investors piled into stocks during April's market turmoil with strong buying in names like Google, Nvidia, and Tesla; crypto activity also rose in July as Bitcoin hit ATHs (CNBC)

  • Circle beat Q2 revenue estimates on a 53% jump driven largely by yield-bearing assets backing USDC; the firm raised FY guidance and outlined plans to diversify into transaction-based revenue via products like Circle Payments Network and Arc blockchain (BBG)

  • CAVA beat Q2 earnings estimates but missed on revenue and cut FY guidance as same-store sales growth disappointed amid flat traffic (CNBC)

  • What we're watching this week:  

    • Today: Cisco

    • Thursday: JD.com, John Deere, Applied Materials

  • Full calendar here

Prediction Markets

  • What do you mean Sydney Sweeney won't attend??

  • Trade your predictions on a range of events, only on Kalshi. Sign up with code LIT and get a $20 bonus when you trade $100.

Headline Roundup

  • Trump told Goldman CEO David Solomon to 'focus on being a DJ' (CNBC)

  • New BLS commissioner suggested suspending monthly jobs reports (BBG)

  • US CPI rose slightly to 2.7% YoY (CNBC)

  • US deficit widened another 10% YoY (BBG)

  • US small-business optimism rose to a five-month high (BBG)

  • CEO mention of recession hit the lowest since 2001 (BBG)

  • Q3 M&A volume may hit $1T for second-time ever (BBG)

  • 2025's biggest US IPO of is also biggest flop as earnings fizzle (BBG)

  • Cash held by US companies halved since 2021 (RT)

  • Leveraged loan margins sink to junk-floor level over summer (BBG)

  • Private credit's PIK usage is nearing a four-year high (BBG)

  • ETF rush sees filings even before debut of underlying stock (BBG)

  • China's $11T stock market is staging a quiet resurgence (BBG)

  • India stock funds saw a record $4.9B inflows in July (BBG)

  • Norway's $2T SWF had its best quarter since 2023 (BBG)

  • Canada's CDPQ gained 4.6% in H1 (BBG)

  • Argentina FX reform spurs worst corporate default wave since Covid (BBG)

  • Europe builds for war as arms factories expand at triple speed (FT)

  • Loeb fights investors to convert London vehicle to Cayman insurer (FT)

  • US says chips deals may expand to other companies (RT)

  • China is urging firms to avoid using Nvidia's H20 chips (BBG)

  • Singapore will sell Hermes bags and gold bars seized from launderers (BBG)

  • Anthropic offered Claude AI chatbot to US government for $1 (RT)

  • Musk sued Apple in latest escalation of OpenAI fight (CNBC)

  • Investment bank Dominari's revenue surged 450% since Trumps joined (BBG)

  • EV sales growth eased to 21%, a YTD low (RT)

  • US will retaliate against IMO members that back net zero emissions plan (RT)

  • Restaurant chains feel the pinch as US consumers tighten belts (FT)

A Message from Mizuho

The stablecoin industry has reached a tipping point. After the June IPO of stablecoin provider Circle saw the stock surge as much as 600% – the largest first day pop for a billion-dollar U.S. IPO in 30 years – it's clear that the technology is moving from the margins to the mainstream.

Some analysts have referred to Circle's IPO as stablecoins' "ChatGPT moment," with projections pointing to total supply reaching $1.4 trillion by 2030. But while the technology dramatically accelerates settlement times and expands financial access, disrupting entrenched payment systems may prove more difficult than many expect.

Can Stablecoins Disrupt Traditional Payments?

Deal Flow

M&A / Investments

  • AI startup Perplexity submitted an unsolicited bid to acquire Google's Chrome web browser for $34.5B, significantly higher than its own valuation

  • Canada's Gildan Activewear is in advanced talks to acquire US underwear maker Hanesbrands for $5B

  • UK's Primary Health Properties will acquire rival landlord Assura for $2.4B after shareholders rejected an all-cash offer from KKR, to create the UK's largest listed health care landlord

  • Ireland's Cardinal Health agreed to acquire urology-focused Solaris Health for $1.9B

  • Management of Affinity Equity Partners, Goldman Sachs Growth Equity, and Henderson Investment Corp-backed Chinese nutritional supplement giant aland Health is seeking to sell its controlling stake at an over $1.5B valuation

  • Cenovus Energy is in talks with Canadian indigenous tribes First Nations and Metis to jointly acquire a stake in oil sands producer MEG Energy for $1.45B

  • A consortium led by TPG and SWF Qatar Investment Authority offered to take-private Chinese medical device maker Kangji Medical Holdings for $1.4B

  • German pharma giant Bayer agreed to acquire a new cancer medicine from Kumquat Biosciences for $1.3B

  • Indigenous Chickasaw Nation's dedicated PE fund Pennington Creek Capital acquired Rite in the Rain, a 99-year-old maker of water-resistant writing and field organization products, from Capitol Peak Partners in the fund's first PE deal

VC

  • Sam Altman and OpenAI will back and co-found Merge Labs, a rival to Musk's Neuralink, with a $250M investment at an $850M valuation

  • Identity verification and password-less authentication platform 1Kosmos raised a $57M Series B led by Forgepoint Capital and Oquirrh Ventures

  • FieldPulse, a field service management software provider, raised a $50M Series C led by Fulcrum Equity Partners

  • Squint, a manufacturing intelligence platform, raised a $40M Series B led by The Westly Group and TCV

  • Jocasta Neuroscience, a preclinical longevity protein startup, raised a $35M Series A led by True Ventures

  • Web3 payments infrastructure firm Transak raised a $16M strategic round led by IDG Capital and Tether

  • Datumo, a Korean no-code AI evaluation tools for enterprises, raised a $15.5M round from Salesforce Ventures, KB Investment, and SBI Investment

  • Regtech software solutions provider Certivity raised a $15.5M Series A led by Almaz Capital and UVC Partners

  • Kotoba Technologies, a startup specializing in real-time speech generation AI, raised an $11.8M seed 2 round led by Globis Capital Partners and Boost Capital

  • Pronto, an Indian startup allowing users to book and avail cleaning, laundry, and home services in 10 minutes, raised an $11M Series A at a $45M valuation led by General Catalyst and Glade Brook Capital

  • Continua, a startup building a consumer-facing AI chatbot, raised an $8M seed round led by GV

  • Dealops, a startup building pricing and quoting infrastructure for enterprise sales teams, raised a $7M round led by Pear VC and General Catalyst

  • Frugalpac, a startup building the world's first paper bottle, raised a $6.7M equity crowdfunding round on Crowdcube

  • Impactive AI, am AI-powered demand forecasting solutions for businesses, raised a $6M Series A from A Ventures, Lotte Ventures, and more

  • Riva Money, a global payments startup, raised a $3M pre-seed round led by Project A

  • Uno Platform, a low-code app development platform, raised a $2.5M seed round led by AQC Capital and Desjardins Capital

IPO / Direct Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

  • Uzbek gold miner Navoi Mining & Metallurgical is weighing a dual IPO in London and Uzbekistan at a $20B valuation, including debt

  • India's first AI unicorn Fractal Analytics filed for an India IPO to raise $560M at a potential $3.5B valuation

  • Mexican fintech Stori is preparing to IPO within two years

  • Indian industrials conglomerate Shapoorji Pallonji plans to use some proceeds from a potential sale of its 18.4% stake in bigger conglomerate Tata to repay $1B of debt held by its Goswami Infratech infrastructure unit

  • General Atlantic tendered its 2.4% stake in German media group ProSiebenSat.1 to Czech investment company PPF, going against the endorsement of ProSieben's management for a higher rival offer by MFE-MediaForEurope

  • Norway's $2T SWF NBIM cut positions in Exxon to 1.32% from 1.46%, Shell to 2.55% from 2.78%, and also Chevron, BP, and TotalEnergies 

Debt

  • University of California is prepping a $1.5B munis sale

  • Domino's Pizza is marketing a $1.3B ABS bond to refinance debt

  • Japan's Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is in talks with numerous governments to build a pipeline of swaps to help developing nations refinance debt, after arranging a $465M deal for Ivory Coast

  • Gridiron Capital raised $300M in private credit from Golub Capital, Churchill Asset Management, Morgan Stanley, and Apogem Capital to back its LBO of pest control company Greenix from Riata Capital Group

Bankruptcy / Restructuring / Distressed

  • Collapsed developer China Evergrande will delist from Hong Kong after a restructuring for its $45B debt load was ruled out

  • South Africa is in crisis talks with the local unit of global steel manufacturing giant ArcelorMittal

  • UK appointed FTI Consulting to advise on struggling utility Thames Water in case of collapse

Fundraising / Secondaries

  • PE firm TPG raised $6.2B for its second Rise Climate fund

  • Ares is close to raising $3B for its third secondaries infrastructure fund

  • TPG's private credit arm TPG Twin Brook raised a $3B continuation fund for a portfolio of loans from UK-based secondaries investor Coller in one of the biggest private credit secondaries deal to date

  • Abu Dhabi SWF Mubadala and asset manager Cain International formed a JV to invest billions in luxury real estate

  • Credit investor Castlelake launched a $1.8B aviation lending platform called Merit AirFinance

  • PE firm Periscope Equity raised $370M for its third fund

  • QDNL Participations, a VC focused on emerging quantum technology startups, is raising a $70M global fund

Crypto Sum Snapshot

  • Do Kwon plead guilty to fraud

  • Ether funds saw a record $1B of inflows on Monday

  • Visa's crypto chief is seeking to implement stablecoins into payments systems

  • Western Union is considering launching its own stablecoin

  • Crypto blockchain is now being used to trade Treasuries 24/7

  • Firms plan stablecoins under new law, but hurdles remain

Check out our Crypto Sum newsletter for the full stories on everything crypto!

Exec’s Picks

Finance & Startup Recruiting 💼

Litney Partners

If you're a junior banker looking for your next career move, check out our recruiting firm, Litney Partners. Established by Litquidity and Whitney Partners (the oldest purely financial services executive search and consulting firm), Litney Partners has placed strong candidates across leading firms spanning private equity, hedge funds, venture capital, growth equity, private credit, investment banking, and fintech. Head over to our website to drop your resume / create your profile and we'd love to get in touch!

We are able to move faster than most firms due to our paralleled reach, decades of industry expertise, and ability to attract top caliber candidates.

Next Play

If you're down bad, realizing finance isn't for you, and/or are curious to explore the world of startups (BizOps, chief of staff, strategic finance, etc.), fill out this form. Next Play reviews every submission and will reach out to schedule a 1:1 video call if they think they can be helpful as your own, personal startup matchmaker. They’ve grown their community to over 50k talented individuals and have strong relationships across the tech ecosystem.

Meme Cleanser

🛒 Merch Store: Visit our merch store to shop our latest apparel, shoes, bags, accessories and more. 

💵 Litquidity Ventures: Accredited investors & qualified purchasers within the Litquidity community can gain access to alternative investments such as venture, late-stage growth, and private equity through Litquidity Ventures. Interested? Fill out this form.

☎️ Book a call with Lit: Want to pick Litquidity's brain on business advice, insights, or just chat to say what's up? Buy his time here.

📧 Launch your own newsletter: Have great content ideas and looking to launch your own publication? We highly recommend Beehiiv to get started.

*DISCLAIMER: Investment advice provided by Autopilot Advisers, LLC ("Autopilot"), an SEC-registered investment adviser. Past performance does not guarantee future results. Investing carries risks, including loss of principal. As always, be smart out there. Litquidity is compensated to promote AutoPilot. Compensation details available upon request.

Reply

or to participate.