Together with

Good Morning,

A Citrini Substack on AI disruption nuked the market.

Upgrade your dealmaking workflows with Blueflame's specialized AI platform for finance, now equipped with agentic content creation tools. Learn more below.

Let's dive in.

Before The Bell

As of 2/23/2026 market close.

Learn more about the Litquidity portfolios and subscribe to the strategies on Autopilot.*

Markets

  • All three major US stock indexes slumped yesterday on fresh AI disruption fears and trade uncertainty 

    • Tech, delivery, and payment stocks fell the most while software and private capital continued their decline

    • IBM fell 13% in its worst day since the dot-com bubble 

  • US Treasuries rallied on a safe-haven bid

  • Russian oil is selling as the deepest discount since 2023 amid sanctions

Earnings

  • Hims beat Q4 earnings estimates but missed on revenue and guidance due to regulatory headwinds over its GLP-1 weight-loss products (RT)

  • Domino's beat Q4 estimates on 3.7% same-store sales growth and laid out ambitious growth plans to double business as rivals struggle (CNBC)

  • What we're watching this week:  

    • Today: AMC, The Home Depot, Cava, Workday

    • Wednesday: Nvidia, Salesforce, Circle, TJX

    • Thursday: CoreWeave, Dell, Warner Bros. Discovery, Celsius, Vistra, Duolingo

  • Full calendar here

Prediction Markets

  • Nothing is certain with this guy, especially with all the on-going chaos in DC

  • Trade event contracts on Polymarket, the world's largest prediction market

Headline Roundup

  • Citrini Substack post on AI disruption nuked the market (BBG)

  • Black Swan's Taleb warned on software bankruptcies (BBG)

  • Top Fed official says US likely shed jobs last year (FT)

  • US is weighing new national security tariffs after SCOTUS ruling (WSJ)

  • US threatens higher tariffs on countries who 'play games' on trade deals (RT)

  • EU paused US trade deal approval over new post-SCOTUS tariffs (CNBC)

  • Switzerland is still aiming for legally-binding trade deal with US (RT)

  • SCOTUS tariff ruling leaves Treasury markets dazed (RT)

  • SCOTUS tariff ruling sends CEOs back to company war rooms (WSJ)

  • PE's dry spell is worse than 2008 crisis (BBG)

  • PE firms freeze Nigeria deals due to tripling of capital gains tax (BBG)

  • Hedge funds have sold the most stocks since April (BBG)

  • Wall Street analysts assign 'buy' rating to three major slumping IPOs (BBG)

  • Asset managers turned long Aussie for the first time in a year (BBG)

  • Five EU nations warned against relaxing EU merger rules (RT)

  • SEA IPO candidates head overseas as local markets lag (BBG)

  • Moody's alert cites gap in data center accounting for Big Tech giants (FT)

  • Dimon seeks to sell JPMorgan investors on $2B / week costs bill (FT)

  • Deloitte launched a sweeping overhaul of its international structure (FT)

  • Anthropic accused three Chinese AI giants of massive IP theft (WSJ)

  • OpenAI deepens consulting partnerships to push enterprise AI adoption (RT)

  • US universities lean on endowments as costs rise and funding cuts bite (FT)

A Message from Blueflame

Introducing agentic content creation in Blueflame AI

Generate Microsoft Excel sheets, PowerPoint presentations, and Word documents with Blueflame AI's agentic content creation tools.

Automatically synthesize, structure, and format professional-grade outputs including pitch decks, CIM summaries, and financial models, all in one workflow.

This is AI designed for how deal teams actually work: fast, iterative, and under pressure.

Spend less time polishing outputs and more time on strategic thinking. What will you create first?

Request a demo to see how Blueflame AI accelerates content creation, analysis, and execution across your investment workflow.

Request a Demo

Deal Flow

M&A / Strategic

  • Paramount Skydance will raise its $108B all-cash bid for Warner Bros. Discovery

  • $40B-listed PayPal is attracting takeover interest after losing 50% of value in a stock slide 

  • Pharma giant Gilead Sciences agreed to buy cancer-focused biotech Arcellx in a $7.8B deal

  • Blackstone, General Atlantic, Brazilian lender Banco BTG Pactual, Colombia's Sura Asset Management, insurer Chubb, Liberty Strategic Capital, Qatar SWF QIA, and Mexican family offices took a combined 24% stake worth $2.5B in Citigroup's Mexican retail bank Banamex to cut Citigroup's stake below 50% ahead of a planned IPO

  • US industrials conglomerate Honeywell agreed to acquire UK platinum refiner Johnson Matthey's technologies unit in a $1.8B all-cash deal, excluding debt

  • KKR agreed to buy a majority stake in Southeast Asian school operator XCL Education from TPG at a $1.3B valuation

  • Japanese utility Chubu Electric Power is in advanced talks to buy a 15% stake in Indian renewable energy firm Continuum Green Energy at an over $1B valuation

  • Chevron is in exclusive talks with Iraq to acquire the West Qurna 2 oilfield from sanctioned Russian oil firm Lukoil

  • Uber will acquire parking app SpotHero

VC

  • Anthropic is selling secondary shares at its updated $350B valuation after completing a $30B funding round

  • Infrastructure AI startup Ubicquia raised a $106 million Series D led by 67 Capital and Marunouchi Innovation Partners

  • Space-networking startup Aalyria raised a $100M Series B led by Battery Ventures and J2 Ventures

  • Humand, an AI workforce platform for deskless employees, raised a $66M Series A co-led by Kaszek and Goodwater Capital

  • Portkey, a unified control-plane startup for production AI, raised a $15M Series A led by Elevation Capital

  • Hypercore, an Israeli AI loan-servicing platform for private credit, raised a $13.5M Series A led by Insight Partners

  • Small-business lending fintech NEWITY raised an $11M strategic investment from CMT Digital

Get real-time updates on any startup, VC, or sector on Fundable

IPO / Direct Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

  • Activist Garden Investments built a stake in $6.5B-listed building-products supplier Fortune Brands and is seeking to replace the incoming CEO

  • Saudi construction firm MGC is exploring a Saudi IPO at a $4B valuation

  • KKR-backed air and ground EMS provider Global Medical Response selected banks for a $1B IPO

  • Canadian pharma firm Apotex is exploring raising $730M in what could be Canada's largest IPO since 2021 

  • Brewer Carlsberg selected banks for an India listing of its India unit that could raise $700M

  • Flagship-backed AI drug developer Generate Biomedicines is seeking to raise $425M at a $2.2B valuation in an IPO

  • Chilean conglomerate Quiñenco sold a $327M stake in French cable maker Nexans

  • Pharma giant Merck is splitting its main pharmaceutical unit into cancer and non-cancer divisions

  • Brazilian conglomerate Cosan is mulling an IPO of its gas and energy unit Compass to slash debt

  • Saudi O&G firm Al Khorayef Petroleum is planning a Saudi IPO

  • Saudi's PIF and steelmaker ArcelorMittal-backed ArcelorMittal Tubular Products Jubail is planning a Saudi IPO

  • Saudi telecoms firm Etihad Salam Telecom is planning a Saudi IPO

Debt

  • Medtech giant Abbott Laboratories sold $20B of bonds to help fund its acquisition of cancer diagnostics biotech Exact Sciences in one of this year's biggest high-grade offerings

  • UK lender NatWest is in task to issue a SRT tied to $4.7B of CRE loans after a planned acquisition of Evelyn Partners

  • French satellite operator Eutelsat Communications is seeking to raise $1.8B to refinance debt after government rescue

  • Electronic Arts bondholders are banding together to fight a $1.5B debt buyback plan ahead of its historic $55B LBO

  • Beverage giant Keurig Dr Pepper is raising $1.5B in a convertible equity sale and will no longer pursue a partial IPO of its beverage unit

  • New England utility Eversource Energy raised $1.5B in a debut hybrid bond sale

  • CRE credit investor Acore Capital closed a $1.1B CRE CLO deal

  • UK asset manager Legal & General is committing $1B over five years as part of a debt-swap partnership with impact credit investor Enosis Capital

  • Canadian aerospace and aviation rollup platform Exchange Income Corp. plans to raise $365M in a debut bond sale

  • Indian infrastructure lender NaBFID raised $125M in its first dollar-denominated loan from HSBC

  • Qatar's oldest private lender Commercial Bank plans to sell its first dollar-denominated AT1 bond since 2021 as Gulf AT1 deals boom

Bankruptcy / Restructuring / Distressed

  • Car auction firm ACV reported a $19M loss tied to subprime auto lender Tricolor's bankruptcy

  • Bank creditors to struggling Cosan-backed Brazilian energy firm Raízen hired FTI Consulting for potential restructuring talks

  • Bankrupt auto parts supplier First Brands laid off aftermarket employees after failing to find financing or a buyer to continue company-wide operations

  • Creditors to struggling utility Thames Water are seeking ratings agency approval for a rescue plan to prevent insolvency

Funds / Secondaries

  • Les Finemore and Al Fullerton are seeking to raise $1B for their commodities hedge fund Moreton Capital after Millennium pulled cash from their previous fund Farrer 

  • Adam Davis is seeking to raise $400M for a new agri-focused hedge fund after Millennium pulled cash from his previous fund Farrer 

  • South African asset manager Sygnia plans to launch a VC fund to support local AI startups and keep talent from leaving the country

  • Italian infrastructure investor F2i SGR raised $542M to bring its credit AUM close to $1.2B

  • SWF QIA invested several hundred million in private credit firm 5C Investment Partners' direct lending business

Crypto Sum Snapshot

  • Jane Street was sued for insider trading that helped collapse Terraform

  • Binance fired staff who flagged $1B in transactions bypassing Iran sanctions

  • Trump family's World Liberty sustained a 'coordinated attack' against its stablecoin

  • Trump's Board of Peace is exploring a stablecoin for Gaza redevelopment

  • Eric Trump deleted all crypto related X posts

  • Crypto.com received conditional approval for a national trust bank charter

  • Hedge funds that piled into US Bitcoin ETFs are first to exit

Crypto Sum compiles the most important stories on everything crypto. Read it here.

Exec’s Picks

Upcoming Events🎪

Capital Comedy: Where finance memes meet live comedy

Palm & Park is bringing the memes off-screen and onto the stage on Wednesday evening, March 25 in NYC @ Capital Comedy, a finance-focused comedy night in NYC for VCs, founders, and operators who could use a break from 'quick intros' and 'circle backs' and pretending networking is your favorite hobby.

​This is not a panel. There is no fireside chat. Nobody is sharing their biggest challenge in one word. But it is:

  • ​A properly curated stand-up show (no open mic energy)🤫👀

  • ​A VC + founder crowd that can take a joke😤

  • ​Drinks, good vibes, and an evening of light-hearted jokes🙂‍↔️🥂

​Come for the laughs, stay for the people investing in your space, building something cool, or both. RSVP here!

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

Avatar

or to participate

Keep Reading