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Good Morning,

We're headed into the final stretch of 2025 with AI bubble jitters catching on to rallying stock markets. But traders are looking to a 'cleaner' month ahead with a Fed rate decision, a re-opened government, and calming volatility.

Also, a data center outage at CME disrupted global markets for ten hours on Friday. But who really noticed anyway? 🦃

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Let's dive in.

Before The Bell

As of 11/28/2025 market close.

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

Markets

  • US stocks rose on Friday to cap strong gains in a low-volume holiday trading week

    • S&P and Dow rose for seventh-straight month

    • Nasdaq posted its first monthly loss since March

  • UK gilts snapped a five-day rally as traders digested the new fiscal budget

  • EM rally paused in a low-volume trading session amid US holidays 

  • Korea's small-caps KOSDAQ index jumped 3.7% while the benchmark KOSPI index fell 1.5% for its biggest outperformance since 2001 on potential new tax incentives 

  • Silver jumped 4.2% to a new record

    • Silver is up 90% YTD

  • Dollar posted its worst week in four months on rising rate cut bets

  • Indian rupee weakened to a new low 

    • Rupee is Asia's worst-performing currency YTD and on track for its worst year since 2022

  • US stock and bond markets were closed on Thursday for Thanksgiving

Earnings

  • What we're watching this week:  

    • Tuesday: CrowdStrike, American Eagle

    • Wednesday: Salesforce, Macy's, Dollar Tree

    • Thursday: Dollar General, TD Bank Group, Docusign

    • Friday: Victoria's Secret

  • Full calendar here

Prediction Markets

  • McLaren bottled another race weekend to set the stage for a three-way title decider in Abu Dhabi, in the first time since 2010

  • Verstappen can clinch the title without leading the championship at all this year, also in the first since 2010

  • It's all to play for with all at stake. Trade the F1 Drivers' Championship on Polymarket

Headline Roundup

  • Trump has made his choice for Fed chair (BBG)

  • Canada Q3 GDP grew 2.6% YoY (RT)

  • Europe rules global stock leaderboards in rare dominance (BBG)

  • Corporate M&A is surging under Trump 2.0 (WSJ)

  • Market enters December with 'cleaner' setup (BBG)

  • Hedge funds are rotating out of tech and into healthcare (BBG)

  • Apollo's co-head of PE sees end of 'low-quality' returns (BBG)

  • PE exec warned PE push into US savings risks bailouts (FT)

  • Infrastructure investors push for deals with O&G giants (FT)

  • Bond investors see some EM as safer than developed peers (BBG)

  • Global equity funds saw their first weekly outflow in ten weeks (RT)

  • Morgan Stanley and Goldman are dominating Hong Kong ECM (FT)

  • OpenAI partners have amassed a $100B debt pile (FT)

  • China blocked TikTok-owner ByteDance from using Nvidia chips (RT)

  • PE firm PAG is making a big contrarian bet on China CRE (BBG)

  • JPMorgan plans to build a new London HQ (BBG)

  • Italy is investigating BMPS CEO for market manipulation (BBG)

  • Ex-Jefferies banker was charged with insider trading (BBG)

  • Sergey Brin donated $1.1B in Google stock after AI rally (BBG)

  • Job market for C-suite execs is booming (BBG) 

  • CME trading outage disrupted global markets on Friday (FT)

  • Litigation finance hits a wall after bets falter (BBG)

  • 80% of Swiss voted to reject 50% inheritance tax on super-rich (FT)

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Deal Flow

M&A / Investments

  • Eldridge Industries-founder Todd Boehly joined a UAE-based consortium seeking to acquire Russian energy giant Lukoil's $22B of foreign assets

  • Korean tech firm Naver agreed to acquire Dunamu, the operator of Korea's biggest crypto exchange Upbit, in a $10.3B all-stock deal

  • Germany is seeking to acquire a 25.1% stake in the German unit of Dutch state-owned power grid operator TenneT for $6.7B

  • German exchange operator Deutsche Boerse is in exclusive talks to acquire European fund distribution platform Allfunds in a $6.1B cash-and-stock deal at a 33% premium

  • Data center REIT Digital Realty Trust and a consortium including peer REIT Equinix are among bidders vying for Partners Group-owned Nordic data center operator atNorth, which could fetch a $5.2B valuation

  • French state-owned utility EDF is now considering a full sale of its US renewables business, which could be valued at $4.6B

  • Blackstone is nearing an acquisition of utility-parts maker MacLean Power Systems from Centerbridge Partners for $4B

  • Saudi SWF PIF's gaming and esports investor Savvy Games is in talks to acquire video game studio Moonton from Chinese tech giant ByteDance; ByteDance acquired Moonton for $4B in 2021

  • Brookfield and Singapore SWF GIC offered to acquire Australia-listed National Storage REIT for $2.6B

  • PE firm Warburg Pincus agreed to acquire a majority stake in school safety software firm Raptor Technologies from Thoma Bravo at a $1.8B valuation

  • Energy trading giants Mercuria and Vitol are among final bidders for a refinery and hundreds of gas stations in Argentina from LatAm energy giant Raizen which could fetch $1.6B

  • Brazilian PE firm Patria agreed to acquire LatAm health insurer Banmedica from UnitedHealth Group for $1B

  • Italian state-owned mint and security-printing group IPZS and postal service and bank Poste Italiane agreed to fully acquire state-owned digital payments platform PagoPa for $580M

  • US broadcaster E.W. Scripps adopted a shareholder rights plan to give its board time to evaluate rival Sinclair's $540M bid

  • Professional services giant WTW is in talks to acquire an 85% stake in workplace pension provider Cushon from UK lender NatWest at an over $200M valuation

  • Polish state-owned refiner Orlen agreed to buy out the remaining shares in its utility unit Energa to take full control for $190M

  • Dutch insurer Aegon is exploring selling some of its non-US operations

  • Mining giant Rio Tinto is seeking to divest its boron-producing US assets

  • Singapore SWF Temasek subsidiaries Pavilion and Seviora agreed to merge to form a $72B AUM asset manager

  • BlackRock and shipping giant MSC's bid for Hong Kong infrastructure conglomerate CK Hutchinson's Barcelona terminal is facing an EU antitrust probe

  • Chinese drone parts supplier Shenzhen Minghuaxin acquired a 5% stake in leading Russian drone manufacturer Rustakt

  • PIF is in advanced talks to invest in Italian defense and aerospace giant Leonardo's aero structures unit

VC

  • Data analytics software platform Databricks is in talks to raise a $5B round at a $134B valuation

  • Function Health, a startup consolidating health data and making it usable for its customers, raised a $298M Series B at a of $2.5B valuation led by Redpoint Ventures 

  • Quantum Systems, a dual-use unmanned systems startup, raised a $210M Series C extension led by Balderton Capital

  • Privacy-computing startup Zama raised a $150M funding round led by Pantera Capital and Multicoin Capital

  • Embodied-intelligence robotics startup Robotera raised a $140M  Series A+ round led by Geely Capital

  • Consumer exoskeleton startup Hypershell raised a $70M combined pre-B and Series B round co-led by Photosynthesis Venture Capital and 5Y Capital 

  • Autonomous earthmoving startup Gravis Robotics raised a $23M equity round co-led by IQ Capital and Zacua Ventures   

  • AI-driven enterprise automation startup Automat raised a $15.5M Series A led by Felicis

  • UAE sports-focused blockchain Atleta raised a $15M investment from Bolts Capital   

  • Whitespace, a sovereign AI OS startup for defense and other regulated sectors, raised a $13M Series A round led by Beach Equity     

  • BHub, an AI-enabled back-office accounting startup, raised a $10M extension round led by Next Billion Capital Partners 

  • SpaceComputer, a satellite-based anti-attack encryption startup, raised a $10M seed round co-led by Maven11 and Lattice

  • On-chain infrastructure startup Maha raised a $9.5M round led by Polychain Capital and an earlier $7.5M round co-led by Hashed, Tribe Capital, and Portal Ventures

Powered by Fundable

IPO / Direct Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

  • $25B-listed Chinese ride-hailing giant Didi reported a 67% profit jump ahead of its potential Hong Kong listing

  • SoftBank-backed Indian e-commerce platform Meesho is seeking to raise $605M in an India IPO

  • General Atlantic-backed specialty eye-care chain ASG is weighing an India IPO that could raise ~$400M at a $2.6B valuation

  • PIF sold $253M of shares in property developer Umm Al Qura in a block trade

  • Vietnam retail giant Mobile World is planning a 2026 IPO for its electronics and mobile store chain Dien May Xanh

Debt

  • A group of banks are in talks to lend another $38B for Oracle and data center builder Vantage to fund further sites for OpenAI

  • Japan plans to sell $75B of bonds to fund a stimulus program

  • Poland plans to raise over $26B in FX bond sales in Q1

  • IMF reached a new $8.2B financing deal with Ukraine 

  • SoftBank is seeking to raise $3.2B in a yen-denominated senior bond sale to retail investors

  • Bank of America and UBS are leading a $3.1B debt financing backing Lone Star Funds' $3.8B take-private of equipment company Hillenbrand

  • An affiliate of Arizona nonprofit Community Finance will acquire two resorts on St. Thomas, USVI from Fortress Investment Group in a deal financed by $465M in munis

  • Credit fintech Pagaya raised yields on a $400M ABS sale tied to subprime auto loans amid heightened investor scrutiny

  • Jefferies is leading a $125M financing deal for fintech Erad in its first foray into Saudi private credit

Bankruptcy / Restructuring / Distressed

  • A Hong Kong court strengthened an injunction blocking the ex-wife of the founder of collapsed Chinese developer Evergrande from accessing $220M in private assets, giving liquidators more leverage to recover $6B in creditor claims

  • French automotive supplier Forvia is looking to sell part of its car interiors unit, valued at $4B, as part of an ongoing corporate restructuring  

  • Telecoms giant Altice designated Altice Portugal and Altice Caribbean Sarl as unrestricted subsidiaries and raised $870M in new debt, with plans to raise $2.3B more

  • Distressed Chinese developer Vanke proposed delaying repayment on a $280M yuan bond for the first time

  • SEC is investigating Jefferies over its relationship to bankrupt auto-parts supplier First Brands

  • PIMCO sold its entire 20% stake in troubled Brazilian telecom operator Oi

  • Car sensor supplier Luminar Technologies appointed an executive to lead a debt workout after missing several interest payments

  • UK PE firm Permira's private credit unit is in advanced talks to take over German tour operator Berge & Meer from German PE firm Genui

  • Aviation firm Avia Solutions will speak with its bondholders after a steep selloff in the company's debt

Fundraising / Secondaries

  • Asian investment firm Hillhouse Investment plans to raise $7B for its latest PE fund as Asia PE revives

  • China's $1.3T SWF CIC is finalizing a sale of $1B US PE LP stakes in Carlyle, Hellman & Friedman, and Welsh Carson, with French PE firm Ardian among final bidders

  • European deep tech growth investor Jolt Capital raised $695M for its fifth flagship fund

  • Lower MM PE firm O2 Investment Partners is seeking to raise $550M for its fifth flagship fund

  • Indian investment firm Motilal Oswal Alternates plans to raise $350M for a debut private credit fund

  • Asset manager Federated Hermes raised $320M for its sixth PE co-investment fund

  • Heartwood Partners raised a $245M continuation fund for sustainability-focused waste solutions provider The Amlon Group led by Apogem Capital

Crypto Sum Snapshot

  • S&P cut Tether stablecoin rating to 'weak' on disclosure gaps

  • Nasdaq filed to quadruple daily trading limit for BlackRock Bitcoin ETF options

  • PBOC vowed crackdown on virtual currency and flagged stablecoin concerns

  • Stock exchanges say SEC must not let crypto firm 'bypass' rules

  • Crypto crash is putting Lutnick's and Pomp's SPAC deals to test 

  • CoinShares pulled plug on select crypto ETFs ahead of US listing

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

Exec’s Picks

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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.

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