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Good Morning,

Bearish sentiment is high globally, Walmart is entering the metaverse through a partnership with Roblox, yields on US savings accounts keep climbing, apartment rents are falling, fake meat sales are dropping, Lumber is no longer a "meme-stock" commodity, traffic congestion is hitting pre-Covid levels in the US, and Celsius has a novel bankruptcy plan that includes turning debt into a new cryptocurrency.

(Celsius using bankruptcy as an opportunity to drop a new cryptocurrency is so on-brand that you almost have to respect it.)

If you want to start earning more cash back on your weekly purchases like food and gas, check out today's sponsor, Upside!

Let's dive in.

Before The Bell

Markets

• Yesterday, markets continued last week’s decline as interest rates kept rising alongside global currency turmoil

  • The S&P 500 hit a new closing low for 2022 and the Dow slipped into a bear market

    • S&P losses were led by real estate and energy sectors, which dropped more than 2% each

  • The pound dropped to a record low against the USD, falling 4% at one point to $1.0382

  • China's yuan ended trading at a new 28-month low against the USD (RT)

• The 10Y Treasury topped 3.9% intraday yesterday, its highest level since 2010, while the 2Y Treasury surpassed 4.3%, its highest level since 2007

Earnings

• What we're watching this week:

  • Wednesday: Jefferies, Vail Resorts

  • Thursday: Bed Bath & Beyond, Micron Technology, Nike, CarMax

• Full calendar here

Headline Roundup

• US savings rates are reaching 2009 highs (CNBC)

• US apartment rents are falling from record highs for the first time in nearly two years (WSJ)

• Putin granted Russian citizenship to Edward Snowden (AX)

• Market chaos is forcing UK lenders to pull mortgage products (RT)

• Hedge funds' trading flows have risen for five weeks straight as they bet on market volatility (CNBC)

• Fake meat sees sales slide on price and being too "woke" (BBG)

• Lumber prices fall back to around their pre-covid levels (WSJ)

• Unilever CEO will retire next year after rocky tenure (WSJ)

• Walmart is entering the metaverse with Roblox experiences aimed at younger shoppers (CNBC)

• Biogen will pay $900M to resolve a DOJ drug kickback lawsuit (RT)

• Peloton’s marketing chief became the latest executive to leave the company (CNBC)

• Netflix will open a video game studio in Finland to boost audience numbers (CNBC)

• UK police arrested a teenager suspected of recent Uber and GTA 6 hacks (TC)

• Downtown traffic congestion in US cities is nearing pre-pandemic levels (AX)

• NFL will replace the Pro Bowl with a skills competition and flag football game (CNBC)

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Deal Flow

M&A / Investments

• Baring PE Asia is exploring the combination of Hong Kong-based business services firms Tricor and Vistra in a potential $7-$8B merger (BBG)

• The owners of private school operator GEMS Education are exploring options including the sale of a controlling stake in the business at a potential $6B valuation (BBG)

• A consortium led by former Berkshire Hathaway executive David Sakol and Fairfax Financial raised its offer to buy Atlas, the holding company that controls shipping firm Seaspan, to $4.4B (BBG)

• Chilean industrial group Empresas Copec agreed to buy last-mile logistics firm Blue Express for $225M (RT)

VC

• Well Link Technologies, a provider of real-time cloud rendering solutions, raised a $40M Series B-2 led by Temasek (PRN)

• Vendease, a Nigerian food procurement platform, raised a $30M Series A led by TLcom Capital and Partech Africa (TC)

• Disperse, a startup helping construction project managers capture data and manage workflows, raised a $16M round led by 2150 (TC)

• Stere, a capacity trading platform for the insurance industry, raised a $5M+ seed round led by Vida Capital (PRN)

• Checkmate, a personalized shopping tool, raised a $5M seed round led by Fuel Capital (BW)

IPO / Direct Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

• Volkswagen is likely to price the $9.1B IPO of sports-car maker Porsche at the top end of an initial range, demonstrating the depth of demand for its share sale (BBG)

SPAC

• Canadian oil and gas producer Hammerhead Resources agreed to merge with Decarbonization Plus Acquisition Corporation IV in a $1.02B deal (RT)

• Rare earth miner NioCorp Developments agreed to merge with GX Acquisition Corp II in a $313M deal (RT)

Fundraising

• Vertex Ventures US raised a $200M third fund to invest in seed and Series A SaaS / IaaS startups (BW)

• Horizon Capital, a Kyiv based investment firm, raised $125M for a targeted $250M fourth fund focused on tech and export-oriented companies in Ukraine and surrounding region (TC)

Crypto Corner

• Crypto lender Celsius's bankruptcy plan includes turning debt into a new cryptocurrency (CNBC)

• Eight US state regulators charged crypto lender Nexo for failing to register its Earn Interest Product (RT)

• Interpol issued a Red Notice for Terraform Lab's co-founder Do Kwon (BBG)

Exec's Picks

• Stocks are dropping, interest rates are rising, and it feels like there's nothing to be optimistic about. However, Ramp Capital's latest piece on "Some Good News" highlights a few reasons why everything might not be so bad.

• Speaking of fake meat being "too woke"... are you tired of ESG bullsh*t? Fortunately, there's a money manager that decided that B-A-D might be the better acronym for investors.The BAD ETF (NYSE: BAD) launched last December to let you invest in three industries:Betting,Alcohol, andDrugs. The case for these BAD industries remains strong for a simple yet important reason – they have historically offered attractive risk-adjusted returns. Want to to invest? Learn more about the BAD ETF fund details and sign up for their mailing list to get the latest fund insights and information.

The Hiring Block 💼

If you're looking to break into finance, lateral, or move out, check out our job board on Pallet, where we curate highly relevant roles for you. We aim to curate jobs across IB, S&T, VC, tech, private equity, DeFi, crypto, CorpDev and more. We'll sift through all the noise on LinkedIn, Indeed, Monster, etc. so you don't have to.

If you're a company looking to hire candidates and want to list a job opening on our board and feature on Exec Sum, click the button below:

Meme Cleanser

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