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TikTok's CEO Is Headed to DC

Eurozone economic sentiment hit a seven-month high in January, the UK government scrapped an in-house consultancy for the Big Four, TikTok's CEO will testify before Congress, Twitter is working on a payments feature, China's Baidu is launching a ChatGPT-style bot in March, and Ford is cutting prices on its Mustang Mach-E.

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Good Morning,

Eurozone economic sentiment hit a seven-month high in January, the UK government scrapped an in-house consultancy for the Big Four, TikTok's CEO will testify before Congress, Twitter is working on a payments feature, China's Baidu is launching a ChatGPT-style bot in March, and Ford is cutting prices on its Mustang Mach-E.

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Let's dive in.

Before The Bell

As of 1/30/2023 market close.

If you want to learn more about crypto trading strategies and the world of DeFi, check out our Foot Guns newsletter.

Markets

  • All three major US indexes slid yesterday as investors brace for a busy earnings week and rate hike decisions by the Fed, ECB and BoE

    • The Dow Jones snapped a six-day win streak

  • The MSCI world index is on track for its biggest January % gain since 2019

  • A huge week on information besides the slew of major tech earnings

    • Today, we'll receive eurozone's Q4 GDP data

    • On Wednesday, we'll receive the Fed's latest rate policy decision, the Labor Department's December jobs report, and eurozone's inflation figures

    • On Thursday, we'll receive the ECB's and BoE's latest rate policy decision

    • On Friday, we'll receive US labor market data for January

Earnings

  • What we're watching this week:

    • Today: ExxonMobil, AMD, Snap, Spotify, Amgen, Caterpillar, McDonald'sĀ 

    • Wednesday: Meta, PelotonĀ 

    • Thursday: Amazon, Apple, Alphabet, Qualcomm, Eli Lilly

  • Full calendar here

Headline Roundup

  • Eurozone economic sentiment rose to a seven-month high in January (RT)

  • Commodity traders are seeking up to $500B in extra finance amid market turmoil (FT)

  • UK government scrapped in-house consultancy, will return to Big Four (FT)

  • TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew will testify before Congress in March (AX)

  • Biden administration is considering cutting off Huawei from US suppliers (WSJ)

  • Twitter is working on a payments feature (FT)

  • Goldman Sachs restructured its Russian assets (RT)

  • JPMorgan is reviewing how it supervises its traders (RT)

  • Citizens Financial is stepping back from auto loans (RT)

  • Fidelity cut its Twitter shares valuation again by 9.6% in December (AX)

  • China's Baidu will launch a ChatGPT-style bot in March (RT)

  • Bed Bath & Beyond will close an additional 87 stores and its entire Harmon drugstore chain (WSJ)

  • Philips will cut another 6k jobs (RT)

  • PE firm Ardian will open an Abu Dhabi office (BBG)

  • Ford cut prices on its electric SUV (WSJ)

  • Gautam Adani dropped from list of world's top 10 richest people following Adani Group's stock rout (BBG)

  • German arms maker Rheinmetall is approaching a $33B order backlog (RT)

  • US fined Volvo North America $130M over delayed recalls (RT)

  • Goldman Sachs head of US loan trading will join Philadelphia Eagles in exec role (BBG)

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Deal Flow

M&A / Investments

  • Luxury consumer companies LVMH and Lā€™Oreal are among potential suitors weighing offers for a stake in high-end cosmetics brand Aesop at a $2B+ valuation (BBG)

  • Credit card payments company Marqeta agreed to buy credit card management platform Power Finance in a $275M deal (TC)

  • Brookfield Asset Management is in talks to buy the PE secondaries business of Deutsche Bankā€™s asset management arm (BBG)

  • Japanese automaker Nissan and its French partner Renault have agreed to reorganize their alliance in a deal that includes reducing Renaultā€™s stake in Nissan (WSJ)

  • Media company RTL Netherlandsā€™ planned acquisition of rival Talpa has been blocked by the Netherlands Competition Authority (RT)

  • German carmaker Audi agreed to buy a minority stake in the Formula 1 team Sauber Group (BBG)

  • Entertainment company Paramount Global will merge its Showtime cable-network programming into its Paramount+ streaming service, creating a single product (BBG)

  • Manufacturing company Cohu agreed to buy MCT Worldwide, a provider of semiconductor test handler automation equipment (SA)

  • Deutsche Fussball Liga, Germanyā€™s professional football body, is preparing to restart talks with PE firms about the sale of a package of media rights; Advent International, Blackstone, CVC Capital Partners, EQT, and KKR are said to be considering bids (BBG)

VC

  • Paradigm, a New York-based clinical trial tech platform, raised a $203M Series A co-led by Arch Venture Partners and General Catalyst (AX)

  • Raylo, a startup building a gadget lease-and-reuse fintech platform, raised a $136M hybrid round with debt from NatWest and Quilam Capital and equity from unnamed previous backersĀ (TC)

  • Alto Neuroscience, a precision psychiatry startup, raised $60M: a $35M credit facility from K2 HealthVentures and a $25M Series B extension from Alpha Wave Ventures (BW)

  • Ribon Therapeutics, a clinical-stage biotech company focused on developing therapeutics to target stress support pathways, received a $25M investment from Pfizer (BW)

  • Greyter Water Systems, a provider of residential greywater reuse systems, raised a $10M Series B led by Ferguson Ventures and Lennar (PRN)

  • Crypto security startup Hypernative raised a $9M seed round led by boldstart ventures and IBI tech fund (TC)

  • Sovereign Labs, a startup building an open and interconnected rollup ecosystem, raised a $7.4M seed round led by Haun Ventures (TC)

  • Whalesync, a startup simplifying the process of syncing data between SaaS apps, raised a $1.8M pre-seed round led by Y Combinator (TC)

IPO / Direct Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

  • Adani Group's $2.5B share sale was fully subscribed despite Hindenburg's scathing report (YH)

  • Hellenic Republic Asset Development Fund, a Greek government-owned fund, has picked Bank of America and Morgan Stanley to lead an IPO of its 30% stake in Athens International Airport at an $870M-$1.08B valuation (BBG)

  • Abu Dhabiā€™s International Holding Co. will invest ~$400M in Indian conglomerate Adani Enterpriseā€™s follow-on share sale (BBG)

Debt

  • Twitter successfully made its first interest payment on the $12.5B in debt that Elon Musk used to take the company private (BBG)

Bankruptcy / Restructuring

  • A federal court rejected Johnson & Johnson's attempt to shed its baby powder liabilities by transferring them to a subsidiary and placing the subsidiary in bankruptcy (AX)

Fundraising

  • MM PE firm Gemspring Capital Management raised $2.1B for two new funds: $1.7B for its Gemspring Capital Fund III and $400M for its Gemspring Growth Solutions Fund I (PRN)

  • PE firm Convergence Partners raised $296M for an African tech fund (BBG)

  • University of Melbourneā€™s new VC fund Tin Alley Venture raised $70.5M to invest in Melbourne Uni-affiliated startups (SD)

  • Exposure management firm Tenable launched Tenable Ventures with a $25M fund to invest in Cloud, OT, code and identity (BIS)

Crypto Corner

  • Mastercard and Binance are launching a prepaid card in Brazil (RT)

  • Premier League signed a deal with NFT-based fantasy soccer game Sorare (CNBC)

  • US prosecutors urged a judge to ban SBF from contacting former colleagues (RT)

  • Bankrupt crypto lender Genesis wrongfully hinted at FDIC protection of customer's Gemini Earn assets (AX)

  • Crypto ETFs roar into life with eye-popping 2023 returns (FT)

  • Crypto-focused VC firm Panteraā€™s liquid token fund lost 80% in 2022 (CD)

  • Celebrities who endorsed crypto, NFTs land in legal crosshairs after investor losses (WSJ)

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  • Bloomberg's Odd Lots covered a big shift that's finally causing rents to decline.

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