US stocks rose yesterday on the back of dip-buyers 

UK's FTSE 100 hit an ATH on cooling inflation

Europe's Stoxx 600 hit an ATH

Dubai's stock index is up 11% YTD for its best start in six years amid a 300% post-Covid rally

Carvana beat Q4 revenue estimates as rapid expansion helped fuel record car sales but missed on earnings due to higher-than-expected costs (BBG)

Figma beat Q4 earnings and revenue estimates and gave a solid forecast as AI monetization helps accelerate growth (CNBC)

DoorDash missed Q4 earnings and revenue estimates and issued weak guidance due to expenses tied to acquisitions of Deliveroo and Wolt, though growth remains strong (CNBC)

What we're watching this week:  

Full calendar here

Only a matter of time before the situation monitors become dip buyers.

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

JPMorgan bankers are struggling to get reservations at new HQ bar (WSJ)

Fed is split on path of rates amid 'uneven' inflation progress (CNBC)

ECB president Lagarde will depart before term ends in 2027 (FT)

Spain is first to enter ECB succession race (FT)

Japan unveiled $36B US investments under new $550B trade deal (WSJ)

IPO market limps into seasonal lull after $7.2B burst (BBG)

Banks pounce on M&A revival with $100B of buyout debt (BBG)

KKR sees less room for error as credit market grows unforgiving (BBG)

JPMorgan sees jump in FX hedging adding to weak dollar (BBG)

Retail traders bought the software dip at record pace (BBG)

Real estate secondaries hit record a $20B in 2025 (SL)

Glencore seeks big-ticket M&A after Rio Tinto mega-merger collapse (FT)

K&E's top RX lawyer quit amid dispute over 'weaponizing antitrust' laws (WSJ)

Two PMs sued Lombard Odier for sabotaging their ESG credit fund (BBG)

BofA launched a loyalty program for customers (RT)

Zuckerberg testified in high-profile social media class action trial (WSJ)

Iran is getting ready for war (WSJ)

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Blackstone, EQT, and CVC submitted bids for Volkswagen's diesel engine division Everllence, which could fetch a $7.1B valuation

South Africa-based telecoms MTN Group agreed to acquire IHS Towers in a $6.2B cash deal at a 36% premium

The estate of late Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen launched a sale of NFL team Seattle Seahawks at a potential $6B valuation, which proceeds expected to go to charity

Nexfibre Networks, a JV between media giant Liberty Global, telecom Telefonica, and French PE firm Infravia, agreed to buy UK alternative fiber provider Substantial for $2.7B

eBay agreed to acquire fashion marketplace Depop from Etsy for $1.2B

Liberty Global agreed to buy Dutch JV partner Vodafone's stake in VodafoneZiggo for $1.18B cash, combine it with Belgium's Telenet, and spin it out

Activist Elliott is pressing $40B-listed London Stock Exchange Group to launch a review of its portfolio, which includes its data business, exchange operations, and a 51% stake in US-listed Tradeweb Markets

Swiss food giant Nestlé launched a review of Froneri, its ice cream JV with PE firm PAI Partners

Mining giant Rio Tinto took majority control of Canadian lithium miner Nemaska, following its 50% stake acquired in a $6.7B acquisition of Arcadium Lithium last year

Crypto exchange Kraken agreed to acquire token manager Magna ahead of an IPO

Musk's xAI raised a $3B Series E from Saudi-backed AI firm HUMAIN ahead of its $1.25T merger with Musk's SpaceX

Ineffable Intelligence, the UK AI startup of ex-DeepMind scientist David Silver, is raising a $1B seed round at a $4B valuation led by Sequoia 

Vestwell, an infrastructure platform for modern savings, raised a $385M Series E led by Blue Owl Capital and Sixth Street Growth 

Used-car marketplace and lender Kavak raised a $300M round led by a16z Growth  

Fei-Fei Li's AI world-model startup World Labs raised $200M from Autodesk as part of a larger $1B round from AMD, Fidelity, Nvidia, and others

Heron Power, a solid-state transformer startup, raised a $140M Series B led by a16z's American Dynamism Fund and Breakthrough Energy Ventures

AI observability startup Braintrust raised an $80M Series B led by ICONIQ 

Sports prediction exchange Novig raised a $75M Series B round led by Pantera Capital

Efficient Computer, an energy-efficient processor startup, raised a $60M Series A led by Triatomic Capital 

Solid-state transformer startup DG Matrix raised a $60M Series A led by Engine Ventures 

Cogent Security, an autonomous AI-agent cybersecurity startup, raised a $42M Series A led by Bain Capital Ventures

Selector, an AI-driven observability startup, raised a $32M round led by AVP

AI-powered tax platform Onshore raised a $31M Series B led by FPV Ventures

Avantos, an AI-native OS for financial services, raised a $25M Series A led by Bessemer Venture Partners

Identity-and-access management startup Venice raised a $20M Series A round led by IVP

Quantum-network security startup Aliro Technologies raised a $15M round led by Gutbrain Ventures

Indian asset manager SBI Funds Management may file for an India IPO next month to raise $1.5B at a $15B valuation

Western Digital plans to raise $3.2B by selling part of its stake in flash memory spinoff Sandisk

Swiss satellite systems maker SWISSto12 is considering a 2027 Swiss IPO at a $1.3B valuation

Activist Starboard Value raise its stakes in Bitcoin miner and data center firm firm Riot Platforms 

Starboard Value raise its stake in J&J's consumer health spinoff Kenvue

$24B-listed French alcohol company Pernod Ricard is considering listing its India business in India

Madison Square Garden Sports is exploring a spinoff of NBA team New York Knicks and NHL team New York Rangers

French lender BNP Paribas is sounding out investors for two SRTs including one tied to $1.8B in LBO debt

Ivory Coast raised $1.3B in eurobonds 

BlackRock-owned private credit investor HPS led a $700M private credit deal for PE-backed home healthcare provider Elara Caring

Office solutions supplier Xerox raised $450M in private credit and pref equity from TPG Credit backed by its IP

Irish fintech unicorn Wayflyer raised a $250M two-year credit facility from Apollo's ABF unit ATLAS SP to lend to SMEs

Danish lender Nykredit Realkredit sold a high-yield perpetual AT1 bond at a 287 bps reset spread basis, the lowest-ever for such euro debt

Fortress-backed Florida high-speed rail Brightline received a two-month grace period on a commuter bond interest payment, with a 2% rate step-up as penalty

Lenders will take control of struggling Dutch bicycle maker Accell from KKR following its second restructuring in one year

Battery Ventures raised $3.25B for its fifteenth fund to invest in tech, including software

Quant hedge fund AlphaQuest will shut down and return all $2B assets to LPs after three consecutive years of losses totaling 30%

Blue Owl Capital is selling $1.4B in assets from three credit funds to return capital to LPs and pay down debt

Novo Holdings and ACS-backed quantum investment firm Quantonation Ventures raised $260M for its second fund devoted to physics-based technologies

Blue Owl permanently halted redemptions at a private credit fund aimed at retail investors

Trump family's World Liberty targets real estate tokenization as crypto slides

OpenAI launched a benchmarking system for crypto tokens and smart contracts

Brevan Howard was the largest seller of BlackRock's Bitcoin ETF in Q4

Brevan Howard's crypto fund slumped 30% in 2025 amid bitcoin rout

Abu Dhabi SWF Mubadala bought Blackrock's Bitcoin ETF despite crypto rout

Goldman CEO David Solomon owns a small amount of Bitcoin and watches it closely

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New studies from researchers including a Fed official find that prediction markets are better at predicting economic events than Wall Street's PhD forecasters. NYT published some interesting highlights.