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Good Morning,

Left is re-shorting GME despite getting crushed in 2020, insurers are looking to add private credit exposure, Short bets against Nvidia stand at $34B, FDA reversed its ban on Juul e-cigs, and USA pulled off the greatest cricket world cup upset ever.

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Let’s dive in.

Before The Bell

Markets

• US stocks closed relatively unchanged ahead of today’s key labor market report 

  • Rates traders are now fully pricing in 50 bps of 2024 Fed rate cuts

• Stock indexes globally hovered near ATHs after ECB cut rates

• US 2Y yields fell for a sixth-straight day for its longest such streak since March 2020

• Mexican peso tumbled 2% to its lowest since October in response to policy reform proposals

Earnings

• Nio fell ~7% after reporting a wider-than-expected Q1 loss on a 3.2% YoY decline in deliveries (YF) 

• DocuSign beat on Q1 top and bottom line estimates but shares nonetheless fell 6% on poor Q2 billings guidance (YF) 

• Full calendar here

Headline Roundup

• Bernard Arnault named son Frédéric as head of LVMH holding group (FT)

• PE bosses warn of lower returns (FT)

• Texas stock exchange start-up draws skeptical industry response (FT)

• ECB cut rates for first time since 2019 (WSJ)

• BoC cut rates in first among G7 nations (RT)

• US sets stage for antitrust probes into Microsoft, OpenAI and Nvidia (RT)

• Insurers to build private credit exposure in coming years (RT)

• US high-yield bond funds saw biggest inflows YTD in May (RT)

• EM portfolios see foreign inflows for seventh-straight month (RT)

• Active ETFs boom as funds eye record $260B inflow (BBG)

• Moody's may cut six US banks on CRE exposure (BBG)

• Trafigura profits slide over 70% in sign that volatility is ending (FT)

• GameStop surged 50%+ as 'Roaring Kitty' teased a livestream (RT)

• Left shorts GameStop three years after getting squeezed (RT)

• Short bets against Nvidia stand at $34B (RT)

• US job growth was likely overestimated last year (BBG)

• FDA reversed its ban on Juul e-cigarettes (CNBC)

• Amazon Labor Union agreed to affiliate with Teamsters (RT)

• USA stuns Pakistan in T20 World Cup upset (FRB)

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Deal Flow

M&A / Investments

• Jeffrey Lurie is exploring a sale of a minority stake in Philadelphia Eagles that may value the NFL team at over $7.5B (BBG) 

• Hungary and French construction giant Vinci will acquire Budapest Airport from AviAlliance, Singapore's GIC, and Canada's CDPQ in a $4.7B deal (BBG) 

• Blackstone will acquire industrial firm Emerson's 40% in its Copeland JV in a $3.5B deal (RT)

• PE firm Cinven is in exclusive talks with Swedish rival EQT to buy Spain's largest online real estate company Idealista in a deal that values the company at ~$3.3B (RT) 

• Investment firm MNC Capital raised its offer to acquire sporting and outdoor goods company Vista Outdoor to over $3B (RT) 

• Hayfin Capital Management is pursuing a management buyout of a majority stake from Canada's BCI that would value the firm at $1.3B (BBG) 

• Bitcoin miner Core Scientific rejected a $1B takeover offer from AI startup CoreWeave (BBG) 

• AI hardware startup Humane is exploring a sale for over $1B (NYT)

• Electric infrastructure solutions provider NVent Electric agreed to buy building solutions firm Trachte from PE firm Palladium Equity Partners for $695M (WSJ) 

• Cycle Pharmaceuticals made a $466M all-cash takeover offer for Vanda Pharmaceuticals (BBG) 

• Audio specialist Dolby Laboratories will acquire GE Licensing in a $429M deal (RT) 

• Retail trading platform Robinhood agreed to acquire crypto exchange Bitstamp for ~$200M cash (RT) 

• Piper Sandler agreed to acquire smaller peer Aviditi Advisors to expand its services to PE managers (WSJ) 

• New Era Cap, a maker of NFL, MLB and NBA caps, agreed to acquire sports lifestyle brand '47 (RT) 

• Michael Bloomberg joined a bid to buy NBA's Minnesota Timberwolves (FT)

VC

• Cube, a provider of the universal semantic layer for every data app, raised a $25M round led by Databricks Ventures (PRN)

• Indico Data, an intelligent intake solution company, raised a $19M round led by .406 Ventures (PRN)

• Fhenix, a startup bringing confidentiality to Ethereum, raised a $15M Series A led by Hack VC (FN)

• Sixfold, a startup empowering underwriters with GenAI, raised a $15M Series A led by Salesforce Ventures (FN)

• Fizz, a debit card startup helping Gen Z build credit, raised a $14.4M seed round led by Kleiner Perkins (PRN)

• Qargo, a transport management solution for the logistics industry, raised a $13.1M Series A led by Balderton Capital (FN)

• Whizz, an e-bike subscription platform for last-mile delivery drivers, raised a $12M Series A led by LETA Capital (FN)

• Tektonic AI, a startup developing GenAI agents for enterprise processes, raised a $10M round led by Madrona and Point72 Ventures (BW)

• Torpago, a commercial credit card and spend management provider, raised a $10M Series B led by Priority Tech Ventures and EJF Ventures (BW)

• Team performance platform Rising Team raised an $8M Series A led by Zeal Capital Partners (PRN)

• Cartwheel, a generative automation platform, raised a $5.6M seed round led by Accel (FN)

• OneScreen.ai, a platform matching ad placements with customer demographics and data, raised $4.7M in funding from Asymmetric Capital Partners, Techstars, and Impellent Ventures (FN)

• Greptile, a startup for engineers to use natural language to index and search large codebases, raised a $4.1M seed round led by Initialized Capital (FN)

• Bem, an AI-powered data interface, raised a $3.7M seed round led by Uncork Capital (BW)

IPO / Direct Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

• Health-care payments software maker Waystar is considering pricing its 10x oversubscribed IPO at the marketed midpoint to raise ~$968M (BBG) 

SPAC

• Italian energy company AleAnna Energy will merge with Swiftmerge Acquisition Corp. in a $710M deal (MS) 

Debt

• Car rental firm Hertz is weighing an over $700M sale in secured debt and a convertible notes offer (BBG)  

• Advantage Capital Holdings proposed to invest in Everton FC to refinance all existing debt and give them a non-controlling equity stake (BBG) 

• Satellite-TV provider Dish Network, which has over $20B in debt, is holding talks with convertible holders about potential new financing (BBG) 

Bankruptcy / Restructuring

• Bankrupt fashion retailer Express is moving forward with a $160M sale to a group led by PE-backed brand licensing firm WHP Global (BBG) 

• Lender’s to Indian edtech Byju's petitioned to put three Byju's units into Chapter 11 (WSJ)

• Mubadala-controlled Brazilian restaurant chain operator Zamp agreed to acquire rights to operate the Starbucks brand and some stores in Brazil from bankrupt SouthRock (RT) 

Fundraising

• Australian money manager Tanarra Capital is seeking to raise a $667M private credit fund to lend to local companies (BBG) 

• Ex-YouTube and Facebook CFO Gideon Yu is seeking to raise ~$500M for a fund affiliated with Alphabet’s moonshot lab X (BBG) 

• PE firm Sound Growth Partners closed its debut fund at $275M to invest in lower MM companies (FN)

Crypto Corner

• Leveraged Ether ETF debuts in US before plain vanilla spot rivals (FT)

• AI's insatiable data-center demand makes crypto miners targets (BBG)

Exec’s Picks

• With the Credit Card Competition Act gaining major bipartisan traction in Congress, the travel and credit cards experts at The Points Guy explain why this may come at the cost of your credit card points and rewards. Check out why the CCCA is a recipe for fewer points, higher fees, and fewer rewards and what you can do to Protect Your Points.

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