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Good Morning,

SpaceX beat estimates in its debut earnings, DOJ fined OpenAI for favoring foreigners over US citizens, Situational Awareness was not target of predatory shorts, US has used 'virtually all' long-range precision missiles on Iran, and Bessent says a deal to reopen Hormuz is imminent (of course NOT related to our military stockpile lmao)

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Let's dive in.

Before The Bell

Learn more about the Litquidity portfolios and subscribe to the strategies on Autopilot.*

Markets

• US stocks rallied yesterday after Bessent said a deal to reopen Hormuz is imminent

  • S&P and Dow rose to fresh ATHs

  • Nasdaq-100 surged 3.3%

  • Chip stocks saw their best four-day rally since Covid

• Europe's Stoxx 600 hit a fresh ATH

Earnings

• SpaceX beat Q2 revenue estimates and posted a smaller-than-expected loss in its debut earnings on surging Starlink sales (CNBC)

• AMD beat Q2 earnings and revenue estimates on a 107% surge in data center sales, attributed to CPU and GPU units (CNBC)

• Apollo missed Q2 earnings estimates as record fees from its lending and insurance unit failed to offset a drag in exits (RT)

• HSBC posted a 60% jump in Q2 profits on strength in wealth management and insurance, including in its 'second-home market' of Hong Kong (FT)

• Spotify beat Q2 earnings and revenue estimates as MAU grew 12% to 777M and premium subscribers hit 300M but gave disappointing forecast Spotify as higher AI and marketing costs hurt margins (RT)

• McDonald's beat Q2 earnings estimates but missed on revenue and named a new president of its US unit as traffic fell on execution failures (CNBC)

• What we're watching this week:

  • Today: Sandisk, Shopify, Uber, Eli Lilly, Circle, Walt Disney

  • Thursday: DraftKings, Airbnb

• Full calendar here

Prediction Markets

• For the millionth time, a deal with Iran is imminent

• Deposit $10 and get a $20 bonus with code LIT on signup, only on the Polymarket US app

Headline Roundup

• US has used 'virtually all' long-range precision missiles on Iran (RT)

• Situational Awareness was not target of predatory shorts (BBG)

• DOJ fined OpenAI $3.2M for favoring foreigners over US citizens (RT)

• Bessent says deal to reopen Hormuz is imminent (CNBC)

• Bessent's yen intervention signals new era of US 'currency activism' (FT)

• BOJ held rates steady at 1% last week (CNBC)

• Hedge funds' 2026 gains dented by tech trades in July (RT)

• Over $100B of high-grade bonds are trading like junk (BBG)

• Europe's earnings are much stronger than they look (BBG)

• Korean leveraged ETF trading plummets under new curbs (BBG)

• Activists face resistance in Japan after years of easy pickings (BBG)

• MS bankers were pressured to approve mortgages for rich clients (WSJ)

• Wall Street sees cloud computing as Big Tech AI spending reprieve (WSJ)

• AI data center race builds $1T lease burden for Big Tech (RT)

• AI frenzy splits VC into winners and have-nots (BBG)

• Big Tech execs will meet with White House about AI safety testing (RT)

• US is drafting a ban on Chinese data center devices (RT)

• Voters prefer Democrats over Republicans on economy for first time in a decade (RT)

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Deal Flow

M&A / Strategic

• Logistics firm Prologis agreed to acquire the UK's largest landlord Segro in a $19B stock-and-cash deal at a 40% premium following shareholder pressure

• UK oil major BP is also seeking to sell its $4B US biogas business Archaea Energy as it streamlines its portfolio

• Procter & Gamble won a bidding war against Haleon and Unilever to acquire supplement maker Thorne from LVMH-backed PE firm L Catterton for $3.8B

• Italian app investor Bending Spoons will buy Airtable at a $2.25B equity valuation

• Francisco Partners agreed to acquire a majority stake in construction software maker Command Alkon from Thoma Bravo at a $1.3B valuation

• Fashion brand Abercrombie & Fitch is seeking to bring local minority investors onto its China business

• PE firm MML took a 27% stake in offshore law firm Mourant

VC

• Polymarket is in talks to raise a $1B funding round at a $20B valuation

• AI security startup Obsidian Security raised an $85M Series D at a $1.1B valuation led by Crescent Cove ​Advisors

Access the complete VC deal flow and data on Fundable

IPOs / Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

• Chinese fast-fashion giant Shein is targeting a $30B-$40B valuation in its Hong Kong IPO this month

• Chinese robot maker Unitree Technology is expected to be ​valued at over $7.5B after ‌its planned China IPO this month

• $5.5B-listed Taiwanese conglomerate TCC Group is planning a UK listing of its European operations

• Chinese robot maker AI² Robotics is considering a Hong Kong IPO; the startup is valued at $3B

• Alibaba-backed 3D-modeling unicorn startup Vast is considering a Hong Kong IPO

• KKR-backed Indian RCM firm Infinx Services is considering a $300M India IPO

• Goldman Sachs-backed immunology-focused biotech Attovia Therapeutics is now seeking to raise $290M at a $730M valuation in an upsized IPO

• African fintech unicorn PalmPay is preparing for a Hong Kong IPO amid its ongoing $200M funding round

SPAC / SPV

• Enterprise agentic AI platform Yellow.ai will merge with Bluerock Acquisition Corp. in a $550M deal

Debt

• Blackstone held early talks for a second $36B debt package to finance Anthropic's use of Google chips

• PIMCO anchored a $16B Oracle Michigan data center deal on its own terms, structuring debt to match Oracle's lease duration

• Pharma giant AbbVie launched a $10B investment grade bond sale to fund its $11B acquisition of Apogee Therapeutics

• Ken Griffin, Vornado Realty Trust, and Rudin expects to secure a $3.3B construction loan for Citadel's new 350 Park Ave, while also exploring selling a 25% stake to family offices

• Hellman & Friedman-backed accounting firm Baker Tilly dropped plans for a $3B leveraged loan sale that was meant to refinance private credit and fund a dividend recap

• Los Angeles will sell $400M of munis afters Sunset Boulevard pipe burst

Bankruptcy / Restructuring / Distressed

• Administrators to collapsed UK mortgage lender MFS sued Barclays for refusing to grant them access to their bank accounts as creditors attempt to recoup assets

Funds / Secondaries

• Cerberus Capital Management is seeking to raise $4B for a second supply-chain fund to invest in critical US assets

• Italy's Nextalia Investment Management raised $1.3B for its second PE fund

• UK PE firm Bridgepoint is exploring selling $1.2B of private credit stakes

Crypto Sum Snapshot

• Wells Fargo will launch tokenized deposits for corporate clients

• Senate has three days to pass crypto Clarity Act before leaving for summer recess

Crypto Sum compiles the most important stories on everything crypto. Read it here.

Exec's Picks

• If you're sourcing early stage, one of the best signals is a founder announcing a raise on LinkedIn or X, weeks before it's written up anywhere. Fundable catches those within the hour, so you can get to the company while there's still room for a follow-on. A must-use for VCs and founders. tryfundable.ai

• OpenAI released a public statement hitting back at Apple over its major trade secrets lawsuit. Nothing will prepare you for the second paragraph. You can almost smell Sam Altman's tone in the blog post. Read it here.

• WSJ published five charts that explain why US and Japan teamed up to prop up the yen.

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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.