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Good Morning,
The US-Iran ceasefire broke down, bringing inflation fears back to the forefront.
Elsewhere, SIG is using World Cup outcomes to hedge risks for clients, a hedge fund baby is through the Wimbledon semis, and Raymond James is forecasting a 500% upside for SpaceX.
Ken Bisconti, a global head at SS&C Intralinks, published a critical blog piece on what every dealmaker should know about the limits of general-purpose AI tools.
Let's dive in.
Before The Bell
As of 7/8/2026 market close.
Learn more about the Litquidity portfolios and subscribe to the strategies on Autopilot.*
Markets
US stocks fell yesterday after the US-Iran ceasefire broke down
Korea's KOSPI index entered a bear market, now up just 69% YTD
US 10Y yield rose its highest since May
Japan 10Y yield rose to 2.87% to a three-decade high
Oil hit multi-week highs
Earnings
Prediction Markets
Where's
WaldoMitch?Trade event contracts on Polymarket, the world's largest prediction market
Headline Roundup
US launched fresh strikes on Iran as Trump declared ceasefire over (CNBC)
Hedge fund baby Arthur Fery storms into Wimbledon semis (BBG)
Quant trader SIG put up $500M for 'hedging' World Cup games (BBG)
JPMorgan plans to target small-cap deals in M&A push (WSJ)
'Complexity premium' fuels paydays for risk arbitrage funds (FT)
Big Tech's $25B mega bond sales are pushing market limits (BBG)
Value of UK takeover bids outstrips new listings by 27:1 (FT)
Private placements surge in Middle East on Iran war volatility (BBG)
China's 10Y bond sale sees record high demand gauge (BBG)
Raymond James sees 500% upside for SpaceX in coverage debut (BBG)
OpenAI is set to launch most capable GPT model after delayed rollout (RT)
SpaceXAI launched Grok 4.5 for coding and finance (BBG)
Apple will spend $30B on Broadcom chips in US sourcing push (RT)
Meta is building its first data center in Canada (RT)
A judge approved Musk and SEC's settlement despite 'red flags' (RT)
Deutsche Bank secured a Saudi HQ license (BBG)
AI millionaires rewrite luxury with space rocks and smartwatches (RT)
Family behind top US egg producer reaped $320M after price surge (FT)
A Message from SS&C Intralinks
How to use AI at work without being sketchy
Your IT security team keeps warning you about "shadow AI" in those emails you absolutely, definitely never read.
TL;DR: They strongly prefer that you not feed confidential deal documents to external LLMs.
But you know that AI is too useful to ignore. It saves your team hours on document review, drafting and data extraction.
That's where SS&C Intralinks DealCentre Connect comes in.
DealCentre Connect brings your AI workflow out of the shadows by letting approved AI tools operate within DealCentre AI via MCP, a secure AI connection layer. That way, your documents stay secure in your data room while Link – our purpose-built AI engine – connects insights across your pipeline.
Our new blog explains how generic AI gives you answers within individual chats, while DealCentre turns every interaction into shared knowledge your team can build on.
Hit the link below to learn how to bring your AI workflow into the light — without compromising security.
Deal Flow
M&A / Strategic
Italy's UniCredit secured 48% of shares in Germany's $50B-listed Commerzbank as its hostile takeover nears endgame
Blue Owl will acquire 12 Spire hospitals in UK from Malaysia's Employees Provident Fund for $1.7B
Dream Finders Homes boosted its takeover offer for Beazer Homes by 24% to $875M
PE firm Frazier Healthcare Partners will acquire software business MatrixCare from health tech firm ResMed for $490M cash
Japan's Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank will take a 15% stake in New Zealand-based infrastructure investor Morrison
UK grocery chain Tesco is exploring a sale of its CEE operations
Blockchain tech firm Perpetuals.com is in talks to acquire the core business of Trump-backed AI Financial for $15M
CVC acquired music distributor DistroKid
Shore Capital Partners acquired benefits technology ThrivePass
VC
Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin is seeking to raise $10B at a $130B valuation in its first external fundraise led by Coatue
AI chip startup SambaNova raised a $1B Series F at an $11B valuation led by General Atlantic
Prime Intellect, an agentic AI building platform, raised a $130M Series A at a $1B valuation led by Radical Ventures
Kaon AI, a GenAI startup for the entertainment industry, raised a $60M Series B from B Capital, Goodwater Capital, and others
Alta, an AI go-to-market system of actions, raised a $25M Series A led by IN Venture
Kord, a UK fintech offering end-to-end onboarding, compliance and payments infrastructure, raised an $8.6M Series A led by Guinness Ventures
Access the complete VC deal flow and data on Fundable
IPOs / Listings / Issuances / Block Trades
EQT-backed UK specialty insurance group CFC is exploring a London IPO at an over $6.7B valuation
Chinese AI startup Zhipu is seeking to raise $4B in a share sale after its stock soared 1,500% since its January Hong Kong listing
KKR-backed Japanese HR platform SmartHR delayed plans for an IPO as it struggles to convince investors of a $1B valuation
Chinese AI GPU firm Iluvatar CoreX is considering an $800M Hong Kong share sale six months after its Hong Kong IPO
GM and Toyota-backed Chinese autonomous driving startup Momenta rose 6% in its trading debut after raising $750M in a Hong Kong IPO
Oman India Fertiliser jumped 23% after raising $680M in Oman's biggest IPO this year
Omani conglomerate Asyad Group plans to sell a 5% stake worth $190M in its shipping business to increase its free float to 25%
Singapore's Foundation Healthcare fell 8% after raising $187M in a Singapore IPO priced at the lower end of a marketed range
French hotel group Accor lined up banks for a US IPO of its Ennismore Lifestyle Group unit
Uzbek logistics group Centrum is preparing for a London IPO
SPAC / SPV
Cantor Equity Partners I and BSTR Holdings will not proceed with a merger agreement from last year and will instead pursue amended terms
Debt
Data center operator QTS Realty Trust is seeking to raise $2B to repay debt and pay dividends to owner Blackstone
Bank of America extended a $520M credit line to OpenAI
Bangladesh is exploring a debut overseas sovereign bond sale
Bankruptcy / Restructuring / Distressed
A bankruptcy judge ordered lenders who participated in Serta Simmons Bedding's 2020 restructuring to pay $260M in damages plus $142 million in interest for wrongfully excluding minority lenders
LA's Pacifica Hospital of the Valley filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy due to financial problems linked to Covid and a dispute with lenders
Funds / Secondaries
PE firm SkyKnight Capital raised $2B for its fifth fund
Crypto VC Paradigm raised $1.2B for its third venture fund to back 'technical frontier' startups
UK state-backed pension scheme Nest plans to invest up to $1.3B in VC
VC firm Chemistry is raising $500M for its second fund
Europe defense tech VC Expeditions raised a $225M fund to help develop sovereign military technologies in Europe
Crypto Sum Snapshot
Robinhood CEO says Robinhood's crypto blockchain is "great for memes"
Crypto firms prepare defenses as quantum threat to encryption draws nearer
Crypto Sum compiles the most important stories on everything crypto. Read it here.
Exec’s Picks
If you're in sales, one of the best buying signals is a company emerging from stealth with funding. Most B2B datasets take weeks to update. Fundable surfaces these funding signals within the hour, so your team can prep the account before competitors even know about it. See it live at fundable.
In spirit of Wimbledon, here's an insightful conversation between WSJ and tennis legend Maria Sharapova on building a business portfolio after tennis.
Bloomberg published an interesting piece on Love Island and how they cracked the code on Gen Z's attention span.
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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*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.