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Good Morning,

Trump named a new Fed governor, Trump signed an executive order opening 401(k)s to PE and crypto, investors are cooling on private credit and passive equities, Intel's new CEO is under fire, and Citigroup made another high-profile hire from JPMorgan as it continues its ambitious IB push.

Let's dive in.

Before The Bell

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Markets

• US stocks closed mixed yesterday as rising yields pressured valuations

• Europe's Stoxx 600 rallied 0.9% rise after Russia said Putin and Trump will meet in coming days

• Japan’s Nikkei 225 index surged over 2% to a fresh ATH on US-Japan trade talks progress

• US yields rose amid soft demand in a 10Y auction

• Oil is set to drop 4% in its worst week since June after dropping for a sixth-straight day as tariffs kick into effect

• Gold hit a new ATH

Earnings

• SoftBank smashed Q1 earnings estimates in its second-straight quarterly profit and its largest Vision Funds gain since 2021 boosted by investments in Nvidia (CNBC)

• Eli Lilly beat Q2 earnings and revenue estimates and raised FY guidance as sales of weight-loss drug Zepbound surged 172% YoY alongside strong Mounjaro demand (CNBC)

• Celsius beat Q2 earnings and revenue estimates on an 84% YoY sales surge driven by record results from its recently acquired Alani Nu brand and renewed growth in its core Celsius line (BBG)

• Vistra beat Q2 earnings and revenue estimates and raised its outlook while reaffirming its FY profit forecast as it positions itself for a surge in US electricity demand from data centers and AI-related industrial growth (RT)

• Sony beat Q2 earnings and revenue estimates and raised its FY profit forecast on strong gaming and TV performance as tariffs failed to materially impact the gaming sector (RT)

• Chime beat Wall Street Q2 revenue estimates on strong demand for its digital banking and financial services in its first earnings as a public company (RT)

• Full calendar here 

Prediction Markets

• NFL preseason is underway and nothing says fair odds like Kalshi markets.

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Headline Roundup

• Trump named Stephen Miran as Fed governor (CNBC)

• Trump signed executive order easing access to alternatives in 401(k)s (BBG)

• Trump signed executive order barring discriminatory 'debanking' (RT)

• BoE cut rates for a fifth-straight time to 4% (WSJ)

• US consumer inflation expectations rose to the highest since February (BBG)

• US continuing jobless claims rose to highest since November 2021 (BBG)

• US productivity rebounded in Q2 as output picked up (BBG)

• US farm trade deficit hit a record high in H1 (BBG)

• Stagflation concerns ripple through Wall Street as tariffs hit (BBG)

• Investors are cooling on private credit and passive equities this year (RT)

• Private credit goes big on open-ended funds to lure retail cash (BBG)

• China's star tech companies rush to list in Hong Kong (FT)

• Trump demanded Intel's new CEO to resign amid China ties (BBG)

• Trump is making CEOs' business his business (WSJ)

• Auto industry has taken a $12B hit from trade war (WSJ)

• BREIT named co-president Rob Harper as interim CEO (BBG)

• OpenAI launched GPT-5, capable of coding and writing (BBG)

• Citigroup poached JPMorgan's Guillermo Baygual as co-head of M&A (BBG)

• SoftBank-OpenAI Stargate project is struggling to take off (BBG)

• ICE is offering $50k signing bonuses in hiring push (BBG) 

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Deal Flow

M&A / Investments

• Paramount Global and Skydance Media completed an $8.4B merger to form Paramount Skydance Corp

• Swiss drugmaker Novartis offered to acquire $6B-listed US biotech Avidity Biosciences 

• Energy Capital Partners agreed to recapitalize Canadian waste management company GFL's Green Infrastructure Partners unit at a $4.25B valuation

• UnitedHealth Group reached a settlement with the DOJ to acquire home health and hospice care company Amedisys for $3.3B

• Hong Kong's CK Infrastructure emerged as the lead bidder for a UK LNG terminal from National Grid for $2.7B

• AT&T is exploring a sale of its Mexico unit at an over $2B valuation

• Blackstone and Thoma Bravo are in talks to acquire Australian fintech software provider Iress at a $1.3B valuation

• O&G giant ConocoPhillips is seeking to sell its Anadarko Basin assets for $1.3B

• Biopharma firm CorMedix agreed to acquire peer Melinta Therapeutics from healthcare-focused PE firm Deerfield Management in a $300M cash and stock deal

• Crypto firm Ripple agreed to buy stablecoin infrastructure firm Rail for $200M 

• JPMorgan, Commerzbank, ING Group, RBC, and Landesbank Baden-Württember are backing Defense, Security and Resilience Bank, a new Europe-wide bank seeking to raise $133M

• Dishoom, a popular Indian restaurant chain in UK, raised $104M from PE firm L Catterton

VC

• Chai Discovery, a biotech startup using computational models to predict and reprogram biochemical interactions, raised a $70M Series A led by Menlo Ventures

• Membership-based veterinary care company Small Door Veterinary raised a $35M equity round from Valspring Capital

• Autism therapy startup Positive Development raised a $51.5M Series C led by aMoon, B Capital, and Flare Capital Partners

• Teramount, a startup developing fiber-to-chip interconnect solutions for AI and data centers, raised a $50M round led by Koch Disruptive Technologies

• GeoWealth, a turnkey asset management platform, raised a $38M Series C led by Apollo

• Bit2Me, a Spanish digital asset platform, raised $35M from Tether

• Multibeam, a startup building a chip design platform, raised a $31M Series B led by Onto Innovation and Lam Capital

• Prophet Security, a startup using AI to automate security operations, raised a $30M Series A led by Accel

• AI-powered customer service startup Kustomer raised a $30M Series B led by Norwest

• OneSkin, a skin longevity brand, raised a $20M Series A from Prelude Growth Partners

• Swing Education, an online marketplace connecting schools and substitute teachers, raised $20M from Runway Growth Capital

• FORT Robotics, a startup building safety and security solutions for robotic machines, raised an $18.9M Series B led by Tiger Global

• MAUI Imaging, a medical imaging startup, raised a $14M Series D led by Acertara Acoustic Laboratories

• Accounting automation software startup Docyt raised a $12M pre-Series B led by Pivot Investment Partners

• Quartr, a qualitative public market research platform, raised $10M in funding from Altos Ventures, Yanno Capital, and Ohman

• AI-powered healthcare research and intelligence platform Elion raised a $9.3M seed round led by NEA

• Perle, an AI training data platform, raised a $9M seed round led by Framework Ventures

• Portable cloud infrastructure startup FluidCloud raised an $8.1M seed round led by Unusual Ventures and U First Capital

• Runloop, an enterprise-grade infrastructure platform for developing and deploying AI coding agents, raised a $7M seed round led by The General Partnership

• Energy management solutions startup Wattch raised a $6M seed round led by Spero Ventures

• Industrial decarbonization startup PeroCycle raised a $5.2M seed round led by Cambridge Future Tech and Anglo American

• Italian edtech startup Faba raised a $5.2M round led by CDP Venture Capital

• Endpoint protection platform North Pole Security raised a $4M seed round led by a16z

• Tracelight, a UK-based AI startup simplifying creation and validation of financial models, raised a $3.6M seed round led by Chalfen Ventures

 IPO / Direct Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

• Defense conglomerate Czechoslovak Group is weighing an IPO at an over $35B valuation

• Mubadala and Investment Corporation of Dubai-backed aluminum producer Emirates Global Aluminum is exploring an IPO; the firm was last valued in 2023 at over $15B

• Northrop Grumman-backed space startup Firefly surged 55% in its trading debut after raising $868M for a $7B valuation in an upsized IPO

• California-based Heart disease AI software platform Heartflow raised $317M in its US IPO

• TPG-backed Indian fintech SK Finance is set to launch a scaled-down $182M IPO

Debt

• ​​Meta selected PIMCO and Blue Owl to lead a $29B financing for its data center expansion in Louisiana, with PIMCO expected to lead a $26B debt portion and Blue Owl providing $3B of equity

• Apollo increased an NAV loan to SoftBank to a record $5.4B

• Asian PE firm RRJ Capital and Deutsche Bank agreed to loan $550M to China-listed aircraft and container leasing firm Bohai Leasing to help refinance $1B in debt

• Indonesia raised $522M in its first Australian dollar-denominated Kangaroo bond

Bankruptcy / Restructuring / Distressed

• US battery startup Lyten agreed to buy most of bankrupt Swedish battery maker Northvolt

• Developer China South City is facing growing pressure as restructuring talks with creditors go down to the wire ahead of a liquidation hearing next week

Fundraising / Secondaries

• Carlyle's secondaries arm Carlyle AlpInvest bundled and sold PE fund stakes in a $1.25B securitization to insurance firms and family offices

• Maritime investor Easterly Clear Ocean is seeking to raise $250M for its fifth fund

Crypto Sum Snapshot

• Gemini-founders Winklevoss twins invested in Trump family-backed crypto-mining venture American Bitcoin

• Get the full stories on crypto with our dedicated Crypto Sum newsletter!

Exec’s Picks

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• New Fed governor pick Stephen Miran is an ex-Druckenmiller-backed macro hedge fund PM among other cool things. His LinkedIn might reveal a thing or two.

Finance & Startup Recruiting 💼

Litney Partners

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Next Play

If you're down bad, realizing finance isn't for you, and/or are curious to explore the world of startups (BizOps, chief of staff, strategic finance, etc.), fill out this form. Next Play reviews every submission and will reach out to schedule a 1:1 video call if they think they can be helpful as your own, personal startup matchmaker. They’ve grown their community to over 50k talented individuals and have strong relationships across the tech ecosystem.

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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.