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Good Morning,
Trump is pitching a $100k/month fee for faster access to his Truth Social posts, Japan politicians are warning of collusion between PE firms and activist investors, Apple briefly overtook Nvidia as the world's most valuable company, Spain beat Argentina to win their second-ever World Cup, and the DoD is offering $400k salaries to poach Wall Street bankers for a $200B lending spree.
Spreadwise is revolutionizing liquidity for HNWIs by offering fixed-rate liquidity at sub-4% rates. This is a game-changer for investors who want to access credit without disrupting their portfolios. If you manage wealth for yourself or clients, you should give it look.
Let's dive in.
Before The Bell
As of 7/17/2026 market close.
Learn more about the Litquidity portfolios and subscribe to the strategies on Autopilot.*
Markets
US stocks slid on Friday as traders weighed deteriorating AI sentiment against strong earnings
All three major indexes ended the week lower
US chip stocks lost 10% after falling for their third week in four
MSCI EM stocks dropped 2.6% to enter a correction
Taiwan stocks plunged 6.5% in their worst day since April 2025
Earnings
What we're watching this week:
Today: Domino's
Tuesday: 3M, GM
Wednesday: Alphabet, Tesla, IBM, AT&T
Thursday: Intel, American Airlines
Full calendar here
Prediction Markets
Markets are still torn between a Fed rate hike or hold this year
Trade event contracts on Polymarket, the world's largest prediction market
Headline Roundup
Three US service members died in Iran strikes (CNBC)
Trump is offering faster access to Truth Social posts for $100k/month (FT)
Pentagon is offering $400k salaries to recruit Wall Street bankers (WSJ)
US corporate insiders are selling stocks at a near record pace (BBG)
Asia AI bets power record equities run for Wall Street banks (FT)
Extreme stock swings tempt funds into reverse dispersion trade (BBG)
Neglected quant safety trade makes comeback as AI risks rise (BBG)
Equity funds saw an eighth-straight week of inflows (RT)
Vanishing CLO profits are sparking infighting (BBG)
Korea president's stock dream bumps into leveraged ETF backlash (BBG)
Japan politicians warn of collusion between PE firms and activists (RT)
China chip stock pullback drives investor fear to record high (BBG)
Hong Kong stocks' discount to China widens on liquidity pressure (BBG)
Apple briefly overtook Nvidia as the world's most valuable company (CNBC)
SpaceX is in talks to sell computing power to Pentagon (WSJ)
Meta is talks to sell computing power to Anthropic (BBG)
Samsung cut 850 jobs in US ahead of Texas HQ relocation (RT)
Prediction markets swell to 27% of sports bets during World Cup (BBG)
Jensen Huang's black leather jacket sold for $1M in an auction (CNBC)
DOJ is pulling back on prosecuting corporate crime (WSJ)
Costco is building stand-alone gas stations (WSJ)
Spain beat Argentina to win the 2026 FIFA World Cup (ESPN)
A Message from Spreadwise
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Deal Flow
M&A / Strategic
General Atlantic and Hg-backed UK insurance broker Howden Group is in talks to raise several billion dollars at a $67B valuation as it prepares for an eventual IPO
PayPal rejected Advent and fintech Stripe's joint $53B LBO offer as inadequate
Telecom Italia endorsed state-backed Poste Italiane's $12.4B takeover offer
Aussie grocery giant Coles ended talks with TPG over a $2.8B acquisition of Greencross Pet
Aussie asset manager Perpetual rejected EQT's improved $1.75B takeover offer
Payments provider ACI Worldwide is exploring a $1.5B sale of its billing division
UK pension and major shareholder Railpen made a sweetened offer for $767M UK-listed early-stage science investor IP Group
Miner Anglo American selected a group led by ex-De Beers CEO Gareth Penny as the preferred bidder for its sale of diamond monopoly De Beers; Botswana has pre-emptive rights to buy Anglo's entire interest in De Beers
ThaiBev is considering a sale of its Thailand KFC business
Oil giant ConocoPhillips agreed to acquire a 42% stake in BP Energy Company of Kirkuk in Iraq from BP
Mexican conglomerate Grupo Carso agreed to buy a 30% stake in a Gulf of America offshore field from France's TotalEnergies
Panama will buy the remaining 41% private stake in strategic oil terminal Petroterminal de Panama
VC
Chinese AI startup DeepSeek raised $7.4B at an over $50B valuation in a debut funding round
AI chip startup Etched is in talks to raise a round at a $20B valuation led by Jane Street
AI agent startup Lyzr AI raised a $100M Series B at a $500M valuation
Cytronic, an automated e-commerce fulfillment startup, raised a $13.5M seed round led by Slow Ventures
Reo.Dev, an AI-native GTM platform for companies selling to engineering and technical teams, raised an $11.3M Series A led by Elevation Capital
Beyond Reach Labs, a space-focused startup addressing power bottlenecks, raised a $10M seed round from Interlagos, Y Combinator, and others
SwarmBase, an on-chain infrastructure protocol for autonomous AI agents, raised $7M in funding backed by Castrum Capital, M2M Capital, and more
Access the complete VC deal flow and data on Fundable
IPOs / Listings / Issuances / Block Trades
GameStop built a $10% stake in $50B-listed eBay
China's Moonshot AI is preparing to IPO in Hong Kong by year-end as it wraps up a funding round at a $30B valuation days after launching the world's best AI model
TPG and Temasek-backed Indian hospital operator Manipal Health is seeking a lower valuation of $8.3B in its planned India IPO
Chinese optical transceivers maker Eoptolink Technology filed confidentially for a potential $4B-$5B Hong Kong listing
Africa's Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals raised $2.5B in a private share placement at a $40B valuation ahead of what could be Africa's largest IPO ever
German chemicals giant BASF invited banks to pitch on a German IPO of its agri-chemical division, which could fetch a $23B valuation
Hong Kong infrastructure conglomerate CK Hutchison is considering delaying a $2B dual London and Hong Kong IPO of its global retail unit AS Watson
Indian rapid-commerce firm Zepto is seeking to raise $850M at just a $3.5B-$4.5B valuation
Blue Owl-backed non-opioid pain medication biotech Latigo Biotherapeutics filed for an IPO
Japan's biggest power generator JERA is studying a US listing
Indian state-run coal and lignite miner NLC India hired banks for an IPO of its renewables unit
Debt
Deutsche Bank is preparing to sell $3B in leveraged loans for accounting services firm Baker Tilly to refinance private credit
CoreWeave is seeking to raise $2.6B in leveraged loans backed by its Anthropic and Jane street deals
Dutch cloud computing firm Nebius raised $775M in its first ABF deal
Bankruptcy / Restructuring / Distressed
Troubled business services giant Foundever Group reached an agreement with a group of creditors to give up 35% of equity in exchange for haircuts on debt and a $250M cash paydown
Aston Martin is in talks for potential funding to boost liquidity
Funds / Secondaries
Tech investor Coatue's retail-only fund raised $8B in one year
European VC Lakestar raised $300M for a debut 'Resilience' fund to secure European tech sovereignty
Crypto Sum Snapshot
Circle gets street-low target as stablecoin competition heats up
Crypto scammer was arrested for stealing $220k by hiding malware inside Steam games
US day traders are piling into risky perps
Crypto Sum compiles the most important stories on everything crypto. Read it here.
Exec’s Picks
Sam Ro shared an interesting take on how investors often worry about stuff that doesn't happen.
Also, the biggest beneficiaries of AI may not even be AI companies.
Financial Services Recruiting 💼
If you're a junior banker looking for your next career move, check out Litney Partners, a recruiting firm established by Litquidity and Whitney Partners (the oldest purely financial services executive search and consulting firm).
We aim to place strong candidates across private equity, hedge funds, venture capital, growth equity, credit, and investment banking.
We're currently seeking talent for some incredible roles. Head over to Litney Partners to drop your resume / create your profile and we'd love to get in touch!
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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.