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Good Morning,
Bonds continued to selloff yesterday after US and Iran re-upped their military drama.
Elsewhere, AI is hitting college graduates in the heart of America's data center boom, foreigners are stripping UK's stock market dry, Wall Street banks are pushing Big Law to cut fees because of AI, and Dyson released a $500 AI-powered toothbrush which has an in-built camera.
Today's letter is brought to you by F2, the agentic operating system for private markets, where every number in every IC output traces back to its source. See for yourself. Book a demo.
Let's dive in.
Before The Bell
As of 9/1/2026 market close.
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Markets
US stocks slid yesterday after fresh US-Iran strikes stoked a spike in yields and oil prices
Nasdaq-100 posted its worst day in two weeks
Bloomberg's global sovereign bond index rose for a fourth-straight day to 3.72% to the highest since 2008
US 30Y yield is trading above 5% in its worst stretch since 2006 while recently hitting its highest since 2007 at 5.34%
UK 30Y yield hit its highest since 1998
US 10Y yield hit its highest since 2023
Japan 10Y yield touched 3% for the first time since 1996
UK and Germany 10Y yields hit their highest in 15 years
Traders are pricing in a 70% chance of a Fed rate hike this month
Zinc climbed to a four-year high on a supply squeeze
US soybean futures hit their highest on a bullish renewable fuel exemption
Indian rupee rose to a two-month high on central bank intervention
Earnings
Prediction Markets
Can almost smell Ray Doomio's essay on the bond selloff brewing somewhere
Deposit $10 and get a $20 bonus with code LIT on signup, only on the Polymarket US app
Headline Roundup
A newly-wed BofA VP was tragically killed in NYC stabbing (ES)
US and Iran traded strikes again (CNBC)
Bond traders snap up hedges against soaring bond yields (BBG)
Bessent's bond gains get wiped out as yields jump again (BBG)
SEC preps plan to widen investor access to private markets (BBG)
UK takeovers top $100B this year as stock market gets stripped dry (BBG)
PE firms snap up more London-listed companies (FT)
Wall Street banks push Big Law to cut fees because of AI (FT)
US urges hands-off approach to AI regulation at G20 tech meeting (RT)
OpenAI says upcoming model is so capable it needs stronger guardrails (RT)
OpenAI says Apple has only itself to blame in trade-secret fight (RT)
Partners Group named new co-CEOs after poor earnings (BBG)
Two Sigma founder's divorce puts Wall Street's wealth on public view (WSJ)
AI hits college graduates in heart of America's data center boom (FT)
Dyson released a $500 AI-powered toothbrush with camera (TV)
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Deal Flow
M&A / Strategic
US oil company North American Blue Energy Partners will take over some Venezuela oilfields previously controlled by Chinese and Russian firms
Kroenke Sports & Entertainment will acquire MLB team Los Angeles Angels from the Moreno family at a $4B valuation
UK retailer Frasers Group plans to raise its stake in $3B-listed Hugo Boss from 48% to above 50% after its recent cash bid fell short of control
Veritas Capital will acquire UK industrial heat treatment specialist Bodycote for $2.2B after raising its bid above CVC's
HSBC joined a race against Brookfield, Warburg Pincus, EQT, CVC, Permira, Chrys Capital, and General Atlantic for a 54% stake in India's Nuvama Wealth and Investment from Asian PE firm PAG, which could fetch a $1.8B valuation
Azerbaijan's state-owned oil firm SOCAR will acquire stakes in Comstock Resources' Haynesville shale assets and related midstream business for $1.65B cash
PE firm Epiris agreed to buy UK's Gamma Communications for $1.4B following a months-long takeover saga
Yellow Wood Partners will acquire food giant Nestle's mainstream vitamins and supplements business for $1B
H.I.G. Capital is exploring a $1B sale of drug manufacturer Rising Pharmaceuticals
Yogurt maker Chobani will re-acquire a stake from Keurig Dr Pepper along with a manufacturing facility for $925M
$600M-listed Mexican telecoms provider Axtel will allow Flō Networks to compete in bidding against a group led by co-chairman Tomás Milmo Santos for 100% of the firm
Student housing operator The Scion Group and Ares bought four student housing communities in the South from Schenk+ for $435M
Norwegian oil firm DNO agreed to buy UK's Capricorn Energy for $395M after outbidding rival Genel Energy
Starman Optical will acquire GoPro for $285M cash at a 30% premium
Shell will take full ownership of Tennessee-based convenience store operator Tri Star Energy from majority owners The Parman Corporation and Kimbro Oil Company
UAE developer Binghatti is in talks with a major entity on partnerships worth billions of dollars after it suspended IPO plans
French lender SocGen will acquire telecom Altice's 50% stake in OXG, a German fiber JV with Vodafone
South African grocer Shoprite acquired the Vida e Caffè coffee chain and a majority stake in telecom vending machine firm R&A Cellular
Bombardier will acquire a Canadian factory from supplier Mitsubishi Heavy Industries
VC
AI coding startup Cognition is set to raise a $1B round at a $47B valuation
Cornerstone Robotics, a Hong Kong–based surgical robotics company, raised a $700M strategic investment from Medtronic
Israeli HR software firm HiBob raised a $166M round at an over $3.2B valuation led by Salesforce
Felix Pago, a stablecoin remittance company, raised a $200M Series B led by a16z
Physical Superintelligence, an AI-native physics lab and virtual physicist platform, raised a $58M seed round led by Breakthrough Energy Ventures
AIR, an AI security startup, raised $50M across two seed rounds led by Sequoia and Greenoaks respectively
Light, the power company enabling embedded electricity products for businesses, raised a $46M Series A led by Matrix
SciFin, a revenue-context startup for sales and RevOps, raised a $44M seed round co-led by Altimeter and Madrona
Empirik.ai, an autonomous infrastructure engineering startup, raised a $21M seed round from Sequoia, S32, Canapi Ventures, and Alumni Ventures
Stack Health, an alternative to group health insurance startup, raised a $21M seed round led by 8VC
Norbert Health, a physical AI control system for healthcare, raised a $14M Series A led by William A. Marino with Cardinal Group
Aranya, a company converting bare metal into production-ready GPU clusters, raised $11M across a $2M pre-seed led by Asylum Ventures and a $9M seed led by First Round Capital
Frontier Computing, a living brain-cell computing startup, raised a $10M pre-seed round led by General Catalyst
Visko, an AI research company pioneering Live Models, raised a $10M pre-seed round led by Llama Ventures
Entity, a gaming infrastructure startup, raised a $5.8M seed round from Delta Partners, Elkstone Partners, and others
Access the complete VC deal flow and data on Fundable
IPOs / Listings / Issuances / Block Trades
Indian auto parts maker Victura Technologies is in talks to raise $300M in an India IPO
SoftBank-backed data center firm SB Energy filed for an IPO
Philippine fast-food giant Jollibee Foods will change its IPO location for its international unit from US to Hong Kong
Debt
South Korea plans to sell a near-record $162B of bonds in 2027 to fund fiscal agenda
Saudi Arabia sold $3.25B of dollar bonds
Bankruptcy / Restructuring / Distressed
Senegal's eurobonds fell after it announced a debt restructuring under a G20 framework and agreed to a $2.2B bailout from IMF
A judge ruled FDIC isn't required to return $1.7B to creditors of failed Silicon Valley Bank
Global steel giant ArcelorMittal dropped its planned takeover of a JV with struggling Italian car part manufacturer CLN-Coils Lamiere Nastri after Italy imposed restrictions, paving way for a domestic rival to take control
Crypto Sum Snapshot
Binance is offering access to US stock and ETF options
London Stock Exchange will roll out tokenized stocks
Goldman, BofA and 19 others plan to issue dollar stablecoin together in 2027
Crypto Sum compiles the most important stories on everything crypto. Read it here.
Exec’s Picks
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John Ternus shared his first public message as new Apple CEO.
WSJ published some cool illustrations and data on the satellite traffic scene in space, where debris is beginning to risk collisions in low-earth orbit.
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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.