US stocks slipped from ATHs on escalating US-Iran tensions

US 30Y yield touched 5% to hover near a two-decade high

EM high-yield debt risk premium over investment-grade sovereigns fell to 311 bps to the lowest in eight years

Israel shekel is up 10% YTD at a 32-year high

Carlyle swung to a Q1 loss on declining revenue despite rising AUM as distributable earnings slumped 28% due to recent exits not yet producing carried interest (WSJ)

McDonald's beat Q1 earnings and revenue estimates as same-store sales rose on strength of customers spending more, though the firm warned of worsening consumer spending due to a spike in gas prices (CNBC)

Coinbase posted a second-straight quarterly loss as crypto market volatility and volume continued to fade (CNBC)

CoreWeave beat Q1 earnings and revenue estimates on a diversifying book of business but issued weak guidance and raised FY capex plans (CNBC)

Full calendar here

Aah sh*t, here we go again

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

Wall Street bonuses are set to rise for a third-straight year (BBG)

New deadly 'Hantavirus' emerges from global cruise ship (WSJ)

US and Iran traded fire in Strait of Hormuz (CNBC)

UAE is sneaking oil tankers through Hormuz (RT)

Potential insider oil market bets since Iran war hit $7B (RT)

The stock market rebound is the most concentrated ever (FT)

Hedge funds gained 5% in their best month since Covid (FT)

Bessent met insurance regulators to discuss private credit (BBG)

Private credit's birthplace gives new rise to 1980s-style greed (BBG)

Oil market liquidity dries up as traders sit out war volatility (BBG)

Europe's worst earnings are coming from luxury and auto sectors (BBG)

States boost antitrust enforcement as federal government pulls back (RT)

Merger arbitrage funds are avoiding bets on eBay (BBG)

CitSec began clearing own stock options in break from BofA (BBG)

Citigroup is ready to leave its messy past behind (WSJ)

Wells Fargo whistleblower appealed for restoration of $180M award (FT)

Blue Owl will reduce private credit exposure to software (RT)

Intuit Credit Karma is opening a site for Americans without credit history (BBG)

An Egyptian man was sentenced to life for Colorado bombing (RT)

Cools your bed up to 20ºF below room temperature

Detects and reduces snoring by 45%

Increases daytime energy levels by up to 34%

Hong Kong infrastructure conglomerate CK Hutchison is considering further telecom asset sale following the $5.8B exit of its VodafoneThree UK JV

Italian drugmaker Angelini Pharma agreed to buy US-based Catalyst Pharmaceuticals for $4.1B cash at a 21% premium

A UAE investor will acquire part of Italian lender UniCredit's Russian unit to give UniCredit a ~$3.7B windfall

The NBA will commit over $3B to its proposed new European basketball league following numerous $500M-$1B team bids from interested parties 

I Squared and Blackstone are considering a $2.9B bid for German media group Stroeer

Nvidia will invest $2.1B in $22B-listed data center operator IREN

Cold storage REIT Americold Realty Trust formed a JV with EQT with an initial $1.3B portfolio

Swiss pharma group Roche will acquire biotech PathAI in a $1.05B deal 

Yacht retailer MarineMax is preparing to sell itself after potential buyer Donerail raised its offer to over $1B while another PE firm conducts DD

NY pension CRF is re-evaluating its stake in French energy giant TotalEnergies following its decision to accept $1B from US to exit offshore wind power

Crypto exchange Kraken will acquire stablecoin-oriented cross-border payments infrastructure firm Reap Technologies for $600M in cash and stock

Drake-backed Italian soccer club Venezia FC raised $120M in funding led by ex-Toronto Raptors CEO Tim Leiweke after being promoted to Italy's top league Serie A

Brookfield will set up a new property JV in Dubai with Alshaya Group despite war concerns

Anthropic is weighing a $50B round at a $1T valuation

Prediction markets platform Kalshi raised a $1B Series F at a $22B valuation led by Coatue

Enterprise banking fintech Ramp is raising a $750M round at an over $40B valuation led by ICONIQ and GIC

Kraken is raising a pre-IPO round at a $20B valuation

Chinese AI startup Moonshot AI raised a $2B round at a $20B valuation led by Meituan's VC arm Long-Z Investment

Biotech startup Anagram Therapeutics raised $250M from Blackstone

Quantum Motion, a UK startup building full-stack quantum computers on silicon chips, raised a $160M Series C co-led by DCVC and Kembara

Skyroot Aerospace, an Indian space tech company, raised $60M at a $1.1B valuation

Skeleton Technologies, an Estonian supercapacitor and high-power energy storage company, raised a $39M pre-IPO round from Axon Partners, SmartCap, and Taiwania Capital

Nova Intelligence, an enterprise AI / SAP modernization platform, raised a $31.5M Series A led by Chemistry

Lunar Outpost, a leader in off-planet mobility and in-space infrastructure, raised a $30M Series B led by Industrious Ventures

Lithosquare, an AI-driven mineral exploration startup, raised a $25M seed round co-led by World Fund and Kindred Capital

Fazeshift, an AI-powered finance ops/AR startup, raised a $17M Series A led by F-Prime Capital

Pit, an AI-native enterprise operations platform, raised $16M in funding led by a16z

MOTHER.tech, an AI-native creative studio, raised $15M in funding from GV, Lerer Hippeau, Box Group, and Shine Capital

Illoca, an AI-native design platform for architects, raised a $13M seed round led by Bessemer Venture Partners

$13B Nigeria-listed Dangote Cement is planning a London listing 

Swedish debt collector Intrum plans to raise $812M of equity amid struggles with a heavy debt load

Brazilian conglomerate Cosan and other shareholders raised $650M in an IPO of Compass Gas e Energia, Brazil's first IPO in five years

Microchip maker Silex Microsystems surged 180% in its trading debut after raising $220M in a rare Sweden IPO

Organic juice maker Suja Life fell 14% in its trading debut after raising $187M for a $700M market cap in its IPO

Rex Concepts, a Polish franchisee of Burger King and Popeyes, raised $125M in a Poland IPO

Activist hedge fund Elliott picked for a combined London IPO of book retailers Barnes & Noble and Waterstones Booksellers

TD Bank Group's $20B financing for GameStop's proposed $55B acquisition of eBay as is contingent on GameStop winning a longshot investment grade rating

Saudi's PIF raised $7B in its first dollar bond sale since the Iran war

Ghana plans to sell $1B of domestic cocoa bonds

Greece won a London High Court ruling confirming its right to buy back GDP-linked securities issued during its 2012 sovereign debt restructuring

Private credit lenders including Blackstone, Apollo, and KKR will inject $100M of fresh capital and take control of software firm Medallia in a restructuring that will convert $2.8B of debt to equity and wipe out sponsor Thoma Bravo's $5B of equity

Golub Capital capped withdrawals from its $10B private credit fund 

Early-stage VC Deviation Capital spun out from quant hedge fund Two Sigma with $2B AUM

European financial infrastructure and services investor Apis Partners raised $1.23B for its third fund

MM PE firm Twin Bridge Capital Partners raised $855M for its sixth lower MM fund 

Baird Capital raised a $450M CV for life sciences consulting firm Blue Matter Consulting led by Ares

Growth investor Crescent Cove Advisors raised $445M for its fourth fund

European VC Earlybird raised $423M for its eighth fund

Africa50 Infrastructure Acceleration Fund, a PE fund of African Development Bank, plans to close with $400M

MidOcean Partners raised a $300M CV for auto parts supplier Cloyes Gear and Products led by Hamilton Lane

Lower MM PE firm 5th Century Partners raised $275M for its second fund

European asset manager Allianz Global Investors raised $270M for a debut APAC infrastructure credit fund 

VC Ridgeline raised $180M for its sophomore fund

UK healthcare investor Apposite Capital raised a $135M anchor commitment from British Business Bank

Blue Owl's tech private credit BDC made $133M from a stake sale in SpaceX

Wisdom Ventures raised a $78M fund to back AI startups promoting health, wellness, and mindfulness

Blue Owl is preparing to launch a debut credit secondaries fund

UK PE firm Hg marked down the value of one of its funds by 9% after software valuations fell to a 20-year low

Wall Street firms are posting dozens of crypto jobs but seeking TradFi experience

Bitwise CEO says four-year crypto cycle is dead as institutional era takes hold

​Round 5 on May 20 is going to be a fun mix of social clinics with a small tournament. All skill levels are invited to play.

Guests are most welcome! Whether you want to watch the games, socialize over drinks, or anything in between

WSJ published an interesting piece on the great $110T wealth transfer…and how it won't happen any time soon.

Sam Ro shared some insightful data illustrating why consistent fund outperformance is hard to find.