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Good Morning,

Uber is joining the S&P 500, Apple is looking to replace Goldman with Chase as its credit card partner, goods deflation is back, Meta’s AI chief doesn’t think AI super intelligence is coming anytime soon, UBS is expanding its presence in the US, and bitcoin is above $40k again.

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Let’s dive in.

Before The Bell

Markets

• US stocks rose, extending their leads into December

  • The Dow led indices with a 0.82% gain

• European stocks rallied on renewed hopes that the European Center Bank had completed its rate-hiking cycle 

• Bitcoin prices reached $40,000 for the first time since May 2022

Earnings

• What we're watching this week:  

  • Tuesday: Nio, AutoZone, MongoDB, SentinelOne

  • Wednesday: C3.ai, GameStop, Chewy

  • Thursday: Broadcom, Lululemon, Dollar General, DocuSign

• Full calendar here

Headline Roundup

• Uber, Jabil and Builders First Source set to join S&P 500 (BBG)

• Apple’s ideal credit card partner to replace Goldman is Chase (BBG)

• Bond market euphoria shifts to debate over how low Fed will need to go (BBG)

• US payrolls are seen picking up after end of UAW strike (BBG)

• Charlie Munger’s donations came with blueprints (WSJ)

• Goods deflation is back. It could speed inflation’s return to 2% (WSJ)

• Meta’s AI chief doesn’t think AI super intelligence is coming anytime soon, and is skeptical on quantum computing (CNBC)

• IMF chief makes the case for carbon pricing as ‘writing on the wall’ for oil and gas (CNBC)

• One Supreme Court case could mess up chunks of the tax code (WSJ)

• Al Gore slams COP28 climate summit host UAE, says its emissions soared (RT)

• Meme-stock crowd plows into cross-asset rally lifting risky bets (BBG)

• UBS to expand presence in US market (RT)

• Billions in US funding hasn’t convinced developing world to ditch coal (WSJ)

• Ex-Wells Fargo CEO sues bank for $34M in withheld pay, stock (RT)

• Kuwait’s Mega AI-Zour refinery fully operating for first time (BBG)

• Ukraine warns of nuclear risks as Zelensky prepares to dig in (BBG)

• College Football Playoff features four heavyweights and one giant snub (WSJ)

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Deal Flow

M&A / Investments

• French financial group BPCE is exploring strategic options for its $1.2T Natixis Investment Managers business (BBG) 

• South Korean buyout firm Hahn is reviewing strategic options for its majority stake in SK Shipping, including a sale that could value the company at about $10B including debt (BBG) 

• CoreWeave, a cloud computing provider in the AI race, closed a minority stake sale to investors led by Fidelity Management & Research at a $7B valuation (BBG) 

• Mountain Valley Pipeline owner Equitrans Midstream, which has a market cap of over $4B, is in the early stages of exploring sale (BBG) 

• Neiman Marcus rejected Saks Fifth Avenue’s most recent takeover offer, which valued the upscale chain at ~$3B, due to the deal’s structure (WSJ) 

• Reverence Capital Partners, a financial-services focused PE group, is seeking buyers for a 20% stake in Osaic, which may be worth as much as $2.5B (BBG) 

• Alaska Air Group agreed to buy rival Hawaiian Holdings’ Hawaiian Airlines in a $1.9B deal to combine the two carriers (BBG) 

• Japanese gas company Iwatani agreed to buy a ~20% stake in Cosmo Energy Holdings for $710M from a group of activist investors (RT) 

• Japanese drugmaker Otsuka Holdings acquired US supplement maker Bonafide Health for $425M (BBG) 

• The UK’s Pension Insurance, an insurer and provider of bulk annuities, is exploring a sale (BBG) 

• UK energy firm Prax Group agreed to buy TotalEnergies’ 36.3% stake in a South African refinery (BBG) 

• Kinepolis Group, one of the largest theater operators in Europe, shelved a potential bid for Canada's number 1 cinema chain Cineplex due to regulatory concerns (BBG) 

• Hedge fund Luxor Capital acquired the UK business and assets of bankrupt EV truck maker Volta Trucks (RT) 

VC

• UAE-based fintech startup Flow48 raised a $25M pre-Series A round from 212 VC, Speedinvest, Daphni, and more (TC)

• Allotex, a startup building a biologics and device company for vision correction, raised a $20M Series B led by Junson Capital (VC)

• Syrup, a startup providing AI-powered planning for omnichannel commerce, raised a $17.5M Series A led by Accel (VC)

• Quartix, a startup bringing supply chain finance solutions to mid-market industrial clients, raised $15M in funding led by SR Alternative Credit (FN)

• ThoughtExchange, a Vancouver-based startup providing an AI-powered engagement and survey platform, raised $13.5M in funding from InBC Investment Corp., Information Venture Partners, Yaletown Partners and others (FN)

• Perpetual Medicines, a startup building an integrated computational design and synthesis platform for peptide drug discovery, raised an $8M seed round led by Chengwei Capital (BW)

• Nexl, a Sydney-based collaboration platform for law firms, raised a $6.6M Series A led by Shearwater Capital and EVP (FN)

• Runna, a personalised running coaching app, raised a $6.3M round led by JamJar (FN)

• GelSana, a wound care company, received a follow-on investment of $3.1M from Innosphere Ventures (VC)

• Coworking space startup FirstUp raised a $2.5M seed round at a $25M valuation led by angel investors from India Angel Fund (FN)

• Databourg, a Luxembourg-based environmental data analytic startup, raised a $1M seed round led by ADB Ventures (FN)

IPO / Direct Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

• Private credit firm HPS Investment Partners confidentially filed for an IPO; the firm, which was carved out of JPMorgan, could be valued at ~$8B (BBG) 

• Insurer Aspen is targeting New York instead of London for its planned $4B IPO next year (FT) 

• PureHealth Holdings is seeking to raise ~$1B from an Abu Dhabi IPO (BBG) 

• Mexican industrial real estate trust Fibra Next will likely delay its highly anticipated IPO until early next year (BBG) 

Bankruptcy / Restructuring

• Troubled Chinese property giant Evergrande and its biggest foreign creditors are negotiating an 11th-hour deal to prevent a liquidation of the company’s offshore businesses (WSJ) 

Fundraising

• Blackstone raised $2.6B for its Strategic Partners Real Estate VIII fund for real estate secondary deals (WSJ) 

Crypto Corner

• British lawmakers do not want a digital pound available in large sums initially to avoid the risk of bank runs (RT) 

• Binance’s explosive growth led to compliance failures according to new CEO (CT) 

Exec’s Picks

• Josh Brown discussed how the economy mirrors the human body, and sometimes we need to step back and let it heal.

• The New Yorker published the inside story of Microsoft’s relationship with OpenAI.

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