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Good Morning,
US ditched its appeal for help in the Iran war, SEC unveiled a new crypto regulatory framework, Australia raised rates again, China is clamping down on the Hong Kong IPO boom, Marc Andreessen is getting flamed on Twitter, and the stock market euphoria is showing signs of fading as 'transitory' inflation turns five-years-old.
There's only one day left to enter your bracket into our 2026 Bulls & Brackets Challenge! It's gonna be a fun time watching the Wall Street community go head-to-head with their ball knowledge so don't miss out. More info below!
Plaid published a comprehensive guide on evolving AI fraud and tools being developed to tackle it. Check it out.
Let's dive in.
Before The Bell
As of 3/17/2026 market close.
Learn more about the Litquidity portfolios and subscribe to the strategies on Autopilot.*
Markets
US stocks edged higher yesterday as investors monitored the Iran situation ahead of the Fed's rate decision
US diesel topped $5/gal for just the second time ever
Oman crude soared to a record $150/bbl
Dollar is up 2% since the Iran strikes in a haven comeback
Earnings
lululemon beat Q4 earnings and revenue estimates but issued poor guidance as tariffs, higher expenses, and a dramatic proxy battle with founder Chip Wilson weigh (CNBC)
What we're watching this week:
Today: Micron, Tencent, Macy's, General Mills
Thursday: Alibaba, Accenture, FedEx, Darden Restaurants
Full calendar here
Prediction Markets
Can we at least close the Greenland acquisition first?
Trade event contracts on Polymarket, the world's largest prediction market.
Headline Roundup
US ditches appeal for help in Iran war (BBG)
US 'transitory' inflation turned five-years-old (RT)
Stock market euphoria fades as investors turn bearish (BBG)
Investors pile into cash at fastest pace since Covid on Iran fears (FT)
Commodity FX carry trades see best returns in years (BBG)
Australia raised rates again to 4.1% to a one-year high (CNBC)
EU weighs curbs on member states' ability to block M&A (FT)
China clamps down on Hong Kong IPOs amid historic boom (BBG)
Philippines is set for bumper year on 'mega' IPOs (BBG)
Brazil stepped up bond market intervention as oil upends rates (BBG)
Wall Street projects higher hyperscaler debt after Amazon bond sale (RT)
Lenders struggle to find insurance cover for mega data center projects (FT)
Amazon sees AI doubling AWS sales projections to $600B by 2036 (RT)
OpenAI will sell AI to US agencies through AWS (RT)
OpenAI will cut back on side projects to focus on core business (WSJ)
Nvidia restarted manufacturing for China AI chips (CNBC)
JPMorgan poached Goldman veteran Yi Zhang as co-head of China IB (RT)
UBS suffered brief tech outage that impacted some S&T (RT)
Musk and SEC are in talks to settle suit over Twitter deal (CNBC)
Warner Bros. CEO is set for $800M payday from Paramount merger (WSJ)
Strong travel demand lifts US airlines despite fuel price surge (RT)
Russia is sharing satellite imagery and drone technology with Iran (WSJ)
A Message from Plaid
AI Fraud Is Breaking Traditional Fraud Detection
Generative AI can now spin up fake identities, convincing phishing attempts, and automated fraud operations at a scale that traditional controls weren't built for.
The good news is, the evolution of fraud isn't new. In the report below, Plaid walks through historical waves of fraud and how the financial landscape must adjust to its current progression.
In this report, you'll learn:
Why point-in-time verification is breaking down
How AI-driven fraud is scaling faster than traditional controls
Why financial behavior offers stronger, harder-to-fake context
How broader, cross-platform visibility reveals patterns others miss
Ultimately, you'll learn how to protect your business from fraud in the new digital age.
Deal Flow
M&A / Strategic
Investment firm Victory Capital revised its $8.6B cash-and-stock offer for asset manager Janus Henderson with a higher cash component to derail Trian and General Catalyst's $7.4B all-cash LBO
Australia's Macquarie withdrew from bidding for a stake in Kuwait's $7B oil pipeline network due to the Iran war
Activist Jana Partners is pushing $1.8B-listed theme park operator Six Flags to explore a sale and fire its board
Mastercard will acquire stablecoin payments infrastructure firm BVNK in a $1.8B deal
French lender Crédit Mutuel Arkéa agreed to acquire SocGen's French retail custody business for $1.2B
Brazilian state-run oil giant Petrobras will acquire Malaysian peer PETRONAS' 50% stake in two Brazil offshore fields for $450M
Canadian financial services billionaire Stephen Smith will acquire a 27% stake in UK magazine The Economist Group from a Rothschild for $400M
VC
UK drone interceptor startup Cambridge Aerospace is in talks to raise new funding at an over $1B valuation
Upvest, a European investment infrastructure provider, raised a $125M round led by Sapphire Ventures and Tencent
Theo, a tokenization platform issuing gold-backed tokens, raised $100M to offer thUSD
Surf AI, a provider of an agentic operations platform for modern security teams, raised a $57M seed and Series A from Accel, Cyberstarts, and Boldstart Ventures
Standard Template Labs, an AI-first service management platform, raised a $49M seed round co-led by ICONIQ and CRV
Native, a cloud security control platform, raised a $31M Series A led by Ballistic Ventures
Knox, the largest federal AI-managed cloud provider, raised a $25M Series A led by B Capital
Gency AI, an AI and blockchain infrastructure company, raised $20M in new funding from TikTok, HF0, XYZ, Streamlined Ventures, and others
Tracebit, a European cloud-native cybersecurity company focused on threat detection, raised a $20M Series A led by FirstMark
TransFi, a cross-border payments infrastructure firm, raised $19M including a $14.2M Series A
Sequen, an in-session personalization infrastructure startup, raised a $16M Series A co-led by White Star Capital and Threshold Ventures
Resemble AI, an AI voice generation and deepfake detection company, raised a $13M round led by Wa'ed Ventures
Niv-AI, an Israeli GPU power measurement and data-center energy management startup, raised a $12M seed round from Glilot Capital, Grove Ventures, and others
Wikifarmer, a European B2B agricultural marketplace and knowledge platform, raised a $7.7M funding round co-led by Brighteye Ventures and Piraeus Bank
Get real-time updates on any startup, VC, or sector on Fundable
IPOs / Listings / Issuances / Block Trades
$140B-listed consumer goods giant Unilever is considering spinning off some or all of its foods business
T5 Data Centers, a subsidiary of Canada's BCI, is seeking to raise $2B in equity
Crude tanker-owner Capital Tankers raised $440M in a Norway IPO
Indian gold lender Muthoot FinCorp is planning a $300M India IPO
Debt
Banks led by JPMorgan halted a $5.3B debt deal to support Silver Lake-backed software firm Qualtrics' $6.75B acquisition of data analytics firm Press Ganey Forsta from Ares and Leonard Green
Japanese lender SMBC reached out to Asian banks backing a $1.5B loan to Saudi Energy Co. asking them to reconfirm their commitments amid Iran volatility
Banks led by JPMorgan are looking to sell $2B of debt backing Trian and General Catalyst's $7.4B LBO of asset manager Janus Henderson
Dutch AI infrastructure firm Nebius Group intends to raise $3.75B in convertible debt for fund data center expansion following a $27B deal with Meta
HSBC raised $2.5B in the first AT1 bond sale since the Iran strikes
Bankruptcy / Restructuring / Distressed
Bankrupt office REIT Office Properties Income Trust is nearing a deal to hand ownership to creditors including Redwood Capital, Whitebox Advisors, and Helix Partners in exchange for cutting debt by $700M-$1.7B
Struggling UK utility Thames Water's ~$9B rescue plan hinges on public approval and creditor requests for a five-year exemption from regulatory penalties on sewage spills and leakage
Canadian subprime lender Goeasy shares plunged after disclosing hundreds of millions in improperly delayed loan losses, vindicating a short seller report by Jehoshaphat Research
Blue Owl triggered a collapse of UK mortgage lender Century Capital Partners after discovering irregularities in financial reporting and demanding repayment
Spandex maker Lycra filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy to cut $1.2B in debt and secure $75M in new capital as creditors take control of the firm
Founder Wes Edens reached a restructuring deal with New Fortress Energy creditors to cut debt by 90%
Funds / Secondaries
India's Kotak Alternate Asset Managers plans to raise $2B for its third private credit fund
VC/growth investor Sands Capital raised $1.1B for its third innovation fund
VC Dimension plans to raise $700M for its third fund to focus on AI and science
Gradient, a VC firm recently spun out from Google, formed a new $220M seed fund
Crypto Sum Snapshot
SEC says most crypto assets are not securities in new regulatory framework
CFTC issues clarity for non-custodial crypto wallet providers to facilitate trades
Crypto Sum compiles the most important stories on everything crypto. Read it here.
Bulls & Brackets Challenge 🏀🔮
Final Hours – Brackets close tomorrow at noon!
A quick reminder that the 2026 Bulls & Brackets Challenge closes at noon tomorrow, March 19.
If you haven't submitted your picks yet, there's still time. Compete against the Wall Street community for a chance to win prizes including MSG Suite tickets, merch, and all-important bragging rights including a newsletter feature as we head into March Madness!
👉 Lock in your bracket below:
May the best ball knower win😤
Exec’s Picks
Marc Andreessen is getting flamed on Twitter for his take on introspection. Watch the clip here.
WSJ published an updated report on 50 famous names who have resigned or been arrested in some capacity due to inclusion in the Epstein files.
Bloomberg published an interesting deep dive on how elite traders are ditching giant hedge funds to set their own terms.
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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.