US stocks dropped yesterday in the start of a shortened trading week as investors monitored escalating US-Iran tensions ahead of a key inflation reading

UK sold 30Y gilts at a 5.8% yield in the highest since 1998

Oil prices jumped to the highest since July

What we're watching this week:  

Full calendar here

OpenAI is finally back in the running against Anthropic now that its Astra model successfully beat all 48 levels of the "I'm Not a Robot" game

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Bessent dares traders to bet against yen: 'I am the house now' (BBG)

Offshore yuan borrowing hit a record $150B (FT)

China IPO frenzy nets lucky few six months' pay in one day (BBG)

Momentum reversal is ringing alarm bells for industrial stocks (BBG)

Firms crowd US loan market in push to cut costs and fund M&A (BBG)

Banks are offloading $138B in LBO debt in the most since 2007 (BBG)

Apollo-backed firms pay 1% extra for debt than other PE-backed firms (FT)

AI disruption of software is way slower than feared (WSJ)

Anthropic and OpenAI bankers push for investment grade ratings (FT)

Google and Blackstone face delays at data center sites (BBG)

Meta launched a new personal AI agent (WSJ)

Goldman expands AI push with new engineering office near Seattle (RT)

Putin praised US peace efforts in call with Trump (FT)

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Poste Italiane raised its cash-and-stock takeover offer for Telecom Italia by 5% to $13.2B

GE Aerospace agreed to buy castings manufacturer Consolidated Precision Products from Warburg Pincus and Berkshire Partners for $11.75B

PE-backed Florida-based lender EverBank Financial will merge with PWN-based peer WaFd in a $3.9B reverse merger

Anthropic walked away from a $6B acquisition of real-world AI model startup Decart AI

Blackstone is exploring a $2B sale of ​medical-grade skincare company ZO Skin ‌Health

CVC is exploring a $2B sale of personal care rollup Arthea, which counts Dr Teal's in its portfolio

Canada's Tamarack Valley Energy agreed to buy Headwater Exploration in a $2.3B all-stock deal

PE firm Cerberus is nearing a $1.4B deal for the defense unit of $2B-listed UK engineering group Goodwin

LVMH-linked PE firm L Catterton will buy a controlling stake in fitness competition brand Hyrox from Switzerland-based Infront Sports & Media at a $700M valuation

Fintech Chime will acquire nationally chartered Stride Bank for $590M

Italian PE firm Renaissance Partners will buy yacht interiors maker De Wave from Platinum Equity for $465M

Czech activist investor Starteepo built a 7.3% stake in $420M-listed office solutions firm Xerox and is pushing for a review of its financial services business

Philippine property developer Vista Land & Landscapes is looking to sell assets to meet debt obligations, including a $420M bond due next year

CBRE Investment Management acquired Cerberus' net-lease real estate business Tenet Equity for $1.6B

Clinical laboratory giant Labcorp agreed to acquire specialty laboratory provider MLM Medical Labs

Robinhood will take minority stakes in Crypto.com's crypto exchange and prediction markets business as part of a prediction markets partnership

Volkswagen is considering divesting motorcycle maker Ducati as part of its restructuring

Italian lender UniCredit acquired a minority stake in German credit markets fintech VC Trade

Miner Rio Tinto agreed to acquire the Aurukun bauxite project in Australia from Glencore and Mitsubishi Development

Europe's biggest AI startup Mistral raised a $3.5B round at a $24.5B post-money valuation led by Samsung, EU's Scaleup Europe Fund, and PSG Equity

AI coding startup Cognition raised a $2B Series E at a $48B valuation led by a16z, Accel, Founders Fund, General Catalyst, and Avenir

Rocket launch startup Stoke Space raised a $1B Series E at a $10B valuation led by Point72 ​Ventures and Spark Capital

Enterprise banking fintech Ramp is in early talks to raise a $1B round at a $60B valuation

UK drone startup Uforce is in talks to raise a $500M round at a $5B valuation led by Valor Equity Partners

The Exploration Company, a European reusable-space startup, raised a $450M Series C co-led by Atomico and the EQT-managed Scaleup Europe Fund

Celero Communications, an AI infrastructure semiconductor company, raised a $275M Series C at a $3B valuation led by Atreides, Valor Equity Partners, and CapitalG

Split Pay, a lending startup focused on rent and mortgage lending, raised $125M across a Series A and Series B led by Khosla Ventures, Thrive Capital, and Affirm CEO Max Levchin

TabaPay, a money movement platform, raised a $155M growth round led by FTV Capital

Forus, an AI network connecting doctors, pharmacies, payers and biopharma, raised a $150M Series C at a $3B valuation led by Bain Capital Ventures 

Poseidon Aerospace, an uncrewed cargo aircraft startup, raised a $60M Series A led by TQ Ventures

Bluecore Energy, a small nuclear reactor startup building floating barges, raised a $50M seed round led by Silverton Partners

Antioch, a robotics simulation platform, raised a $32M Series A led by Greylock Partners  

Blee, a marketing compliance software for financial services, raised $27M across a seed and Series A led by Fin Capital and SMBC

Amazon acquired rights to buy $4B of Qualcomm stock as part of a $60B AI chip deal

National Stock Exchange of India is likely to price its downsized India IPO below a marketed range to raise $2.5B at a $46.6B valuation

Chinese chipmaker Longsys raised $903M in an upsized Hong Kong listing priced at a 44% discount to its China trading

Nuclear supplier Holtec is seeking to raise $900M at a $10.2B valuation in an IPO

Danish energy company Andel Holding is looking to sell a 1.6% stake worth $467M in Danish wind farm company Orsted just one year after its investment

Torrent's gas distribution arm Torrent Gas filed updated papers for its $418M India IPO

Warburg Pincus-backed Singaporean telecoms tech firm Circles Group plans to spin off its digital software services platform for several hundred million dollars

Australian data center company Firmus Technologies is starting investor meetings for an Australia IPO

Nuclear services firm HGP Intelligent Energy will merge with Meshflow Acquisition at a $1.2B valuation

Telecom infrastructure firm Gibson Technical Services will merge with NMP Acquisition Corp. at a $400M valuation

​​SoftBank is sounding out interest for a $10B-$20B dollar junk-bond sale

Lenders including Bank of America and Deutsche Bank launched a $3.3B debt sale to back Platinum Equity's 50% purchase of Nestle's water business for $2.9B

Saudi smart city project NEOM raised $3B in financing from HSBC, Bank of China, Crédit Agricole JPMorgan, Bank of America, and others

Indian conglomerate Reliance Industries plans to raise $1.3B in its first local FX bond sale since 2021

Amazon hired banks for a debut sterling bond sale

Clearlake-backed specialty materials manufacturer Alkegen filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy with plans to eliminate $3.1B of debt

Senegal will seek to negotiate a debt reprofiling instead of a restructuring in talks with creditors to make its loans sustainable and qualify for an IMF bailout

Saudi's PGA rival LIV Golf filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy after SWF PIF pulled funding with players in advanced talks to take control of the business and BC Partners and others in talks to provide exit financing

a16z added $1.75B of fresh capital to its fifth growth fund, increasing its size to $8.5B just months after closing 

UK PE firm Cinven raised $2.7B for its second strategic MM fund

Nordic PE firm Axcel raised $2.4B for its eighth flagship fund

UK PE firm Bridgepoint raised a $1.4B private credit CV led by Pantheon Ventures

PennantPark Investment Advisers raised a $745M MM private credit CV led by Pantheon Ventures

Lower MM PE firm Tyree & D'Angelo Partners raised $650M for its fourth fund

New York Life-owned MM PE firm Apogem Capital raised $600M for its eleventh PE fund

UK venture debt firm Claret Capital raised $510M for its fourth European growth debt fund to back 'less sexy' startups 

Singapore SWF Temasek's real estate arm CapitaLand Investment is seeking to raise $500M for its third APAC credit program

VC investor TrueBridge Capital Partners raised $508M for its second secondaries fund

Gainline Capital Partners raised a single-asset CV for gym equipment provider Core Health & Fitness led by StepStone

Strategy launched $250 Bitcoin themed Jordans but won't accept crypto as payment

Block applied to establish uninsured national trust bank Builders Bank & Trust

Republicans expect crypto Clarity Act to fail in the Senate next week

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Also, Ben Carlson thinks it's time to come to terms with stock market index concentration.