US stocks inched upwards on Friday as chip stocks continued to regain ground

PBOC set yuan daily reference rate below 6.8/dollar for the first time since 2023

Delta beat Q2 earnings and revenue estimates and affirmed its FY outlook as it expects to feasibly pass on increased fuel costs to consumers (CNBC)

What we're watching this week:  

Full calendar here

We're down to the final four

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

US launched fresh Iran strikes and declared the Strait of Hormuz open (BBG)

Phoebe Gates' startup was exposed for illegal 'cookie stuffing' fraud (TC)

PE mega funds are pulling in more cash as winners take all (FT)

JPMorgan's AI agents beat 60/40 portfolios in backtests (BBG)

UBS helped trigger exodus from Blue Owl private credit fund (FT)

Korea's world-beating stocks are now cheaper than ever (BBG)

Just three stocks make up 30% of MSCI EM index (BBG)

Korea and Taiwan lead historic $46B EM equity exodus in June (RT)

Geopolitical shifts are driving SWFs towards national priorities (RT)

Foreign ownership of UK firms soared 35% since Covid (BBG)

Nasdaq says SK Hynix bonanza opens path to more foreign listings (BBG)

SK Hynix US debut unleashes second wave of leveraged ETFs (BBG)

Apple sued OpenAI for massive trade secret theft (CNBC)

OpenAI exec Fidji Simo will step down amid health battles (BBG)

OpenAI and Google sell AI models to blacklisted China groups (FT)

StubHub's CEO is running a mass scalping operation (CBC)

SEC says activist investors must disclose names of clients (RT)

Shopify told users to remove vapes from online stores (RT)

Moms with young kids are ditching corporate to buy small businesses (FC)

A group led by tech billionaire Vinod Khosla will acquire NFL's Seattle Seahawks from the estate of late Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen for $9.6 billion

UK budget carrier EasyJet received a surprise $7.6B counter offer from Apollo, beating a rival $7.3B proposal from Castlelake

PE firm Warburg Pincus is nearing a deal to acquire specialty pharmacy company PANTHERx Rare ​from General ‌Atlantic for over $7B, including debt

Activist Elliott built a large stake in $3.5B-listed car-insurance software provider CCC Intelligent Solutions, which is exploring a sale

Brookfield is in exclusive talks to acquire 10% of Manhattan's Hudson Square Properties at a $3.5B valuation

Apollo acquired a minority stake in German pharma giant Bayer's contraceptives business for $3.4B

A group led by B Capital agreed to acquire Russell Investments from TA Associates and Reverence Capital Partners for $2.8B

Chinese tech giant Tencent is in talks to become the largest external shareholder in AI agent startup Manus as part of Meta's unwinding of their deal at the same $2B valuation

Mining giant BHP Group is exploring a sale of a desalination plant in Chile, along with its electricity transmission assets, for a combined $2B

SoftBank and fintech unit PayPay are in talks to invest $1.85B in 7-Eleven-owner Seven & i Holdings

PE firm Warburg Pincus agreed to invest in Australian data and information services company CreditorWatch at a $500M valuation

Miner ERG is considering splitting its Kazakh and international operations into two businesses

BC Partners, CVC, Bain Capital, and ​Capvest are considering bids for ​Italian coffee producer Segafredo Zanetti as PE firm QuattroR weighs a sale 

TJM Labs, a pharmacy AI platform, raised $100M across a Series A, Series A-1, and Series B led by Elephant

Skapion, a defense tech startup developing mobile systems to counter drone swarms, raised a $36M seed round led by Fusion VC

GIM, an AI-native investment platform, raised a $20M Series A co-led by Hony Capital 

General Legal, an AI-native law firm for startups, raised an $11.5M combined pre-seed and seed round at a $70M valuation from Y Combinator and Audacious Ventures

Chinese fast fashion giant Shein received China approval to proceed with a planned Hong Kong IPO that could fetch a $30B valuation, down from $100B at peak

Korea chip darling SK Hynix rose 13% in its US trading debut after raising $26.5B in the biggest first-time share sale by a foreign company

Vega, a family vehicle of French telecoms billionaire Xavier Niel, agreed to buy a 16% stake in UK telecom giant Vodafone from Emirates Telecommunications for $6B to become the company's biggest shareholder

China's Nexchip Semiconductor Corp. jumped 14% in its Hong Kong trading debut after raising $890M in a Hong Kong share sale at a 57% discount

Kazakh investment conglomerate Freedom Holding Corp. raised $300M in a share sale to help fund ongoing international expansion

Indian dairy firm Milky Mist Dairy Food is set to launch a $213M India IPO

Tailored Brands, the Silverpoint Capital-backed parent of Men's Wearhouse and Jos. A. Bank, filed for an IPO six years after bankruptcy 

Holtec Nuclear Corp. filed for an IPO

Sleep apnea-focused biotech Apnimed filed for an IPO

Aston Martin creditors led by Arini, BlackRock, and Sculptor Capital teamed up ahead of potential debt talks

Software MM PE firm Serent Capital raised $1.3B for its sixth flagship fund in less than 90 days

Macro hedge fund Deem raised $1B from Abu Dhabi's ADIC

French PE firm Andera Partners raised $490M for its fourth expansion capital fund 

French healthcare PE firm Mérieux Equity Partners raised a $380M first close for its fifth healthcare buyout fund

Stablecoin giant Circle received approval for a US bank charter

DOJ will drop charges against mastermind of $722M crypto Ponzi scheme

Gen Z is literally gambling it all. Check out what Bloomberg has to say on this generation-defining phenomenon.

I also recently had the chance to sit down with Run Rate to talk about the thrill of growing Litquidity anonymously over seven years (and publicly as of 2024). This was my first ever interview since my identity was revealed and I thought it'd be cool to share.