California Knows No Limits

Together with

Good Morning,

South Korea's president called their stock market 'unstable,' Buffett was behind Berkshire's $10B investment in Google, Morgan Stanley got a boost from new SpaceX millionaires, and California billionaires may face intrusive residency audits to prove that they live elsewhere after fleeing a potential wealth confiscation.

Mizuho recently hosted prominent tech leaders at their 2026 Technology Conference to discuss the investing landscape in framework of the AI super cycle. Check out their key takeaways.

Let's dive in.

Before The Bell

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

Markets

• US stocks gained yesterday as another optimistic inflation reading lowered odds of future Fed rate hikes

  • Nasdaq-100 has swung ±1% in 20 of the last 26 sessions, with volatility echoing the dot-com bust

• US Treasuries rose for a second day on soft back-to-back inflation readings

Earnings

• ASML issued a second-straight beat-and-raise as customers continue to ramp up production of AI chips (CNBC)

• Morgan Stanley posted record Q2 profit and revenue on a 69% surge in equities trading and a boost in wealth management driven by newly-minted SpaceX millionaires (CNBC)

• BlackRock beat Q2 earnings and revenue estimates as AUM hit a record $15T on a boost from buoyant markets and ETF inflows (WSJ)

• J&J issued a Q2 beat-and-raise as strong growth from immunology ​drug Tremfya and cancer blockbuster ​Darzalex more than ​offset erosion from older products and a drop in sales for heart pumps in its Abiomed unit (RT)

• United Airlines beat Q2 earnings and revenue estimates on strong demand but warned of $6B in added fuel costs (CNBC)

• What we're watching this week:

  • Today: TSMC, Netflix, UnitedHealth Group

• Full calendar here

Prediction Markets

• The sun did in fact set on the British Empire

• Trade event contracts on Polymarket, the world's largest prediction market

Headline Roundup

• China Q2 GDP grew 4.3%, the slowest since 2022 (CNBC)

• US producer inflation rose 5.5% YoY (CNBC)

• Blockbuster stock sales threaten to overwhelm the bull market (WSJ)

• Wall Street's IB machine is firing on all cylinders (RT)

• Record IPOs spur best Wall Street ECM revenue since 2021 (BBG)

• Regional banks and wealth is leading financial services M&A (BBG)

• Korean president calls stock market 'unstable' after wild swings (BBG)

• Long UK equities has become a contrarian trade (BBG)

• SpaceX fell below IPO price for the first time (BBG)

• SpaceX lost over $1T in market cap from the recent selloff (FT)

• Short-sellers swarm SpaceX with paper profit nearing $4B (BBG)

• Buffett initiated Berkshire's $10B investment in Google (CNBC)

• Jamie Dimon compares widespread access to Anthropic's Mythos to 'giving ballistic missiles to individuals' (BBG)

• Thinking Machines Lab launched an open-weight AI model (RT)

• Chipotle opened its first store in Mexico (RT)

• Billionaires who fled California wealth risk intrusive residency audit (FT)

• Buffett called Bill Gates' Epstein activities 'distasteful' but said that even he makes mistakes (CNBC)

• Congress grilled Goldman exec Ruemmler on her Epstein relationship (WSJ)

A Message from Mizuho

The AI supercycle is entering a new chapter. At Mizuho's 2026 Technology Conference, leaders from across the technology ecosystem, including Lumentum, Salesforce, IBM, and others, described a market shifting from building AI capability to deploying it at scale across enterprises, data centers, and the infrastructure that connects them.

Just a few years ago, AI adoption was defined by pilots and productivity tools. Today, companies are embedding AI into workflows, reallocating budgets around deployment, and confronting the operational, economic, and physical constraints of increasingly autonomous systems. The result is a new phase of AI adoption defined less by possibility and more by integration.

Deal Flow

M&A / Strategic

• Uber is set to acquire German peer Delivery Hero for $14.3B

• European PE firm EQT made an improved $1.75B offer for Aussie asset manager Perpetual after its previous bid was rejected

• First Quantum Minerals is in talks to sell a minority stake in its Taca Taca copper project in Argentina to buyers including Rio Tinto, Mitsubishi, and Mitsui & Co.

• Brazilian education company Anima Holding slumped a record 30% after it agreed to repurchase Faculdades Metropolitanas Unidas Educacionais for an $80M equity value

• BrewDog co-founder James Watt made a new bid to buy back his beer company from Tilray Brands to restore ownership stakes of retail investor 'equity punks'

VC

• Walden Robotics, a full-stack physical AI company building and deploying general-purpose robots, raised a $300M seed round at a $1.1B valuation co-led by Toyota and Deviation Capital

• Emergent, an AI software creation platform, raised a $130M Series C at a $1.5B valuation led by Creaegis

• Lumin Digital, the compounding growth platform for banks and credit unions, raised $115M in new capital at a $1.6B valuation led by Light Street Capital

• Senra, a wire harness manufacturing and software startup, raised a $65M Series B co-led by Lowercarbon and Interlagos

• Hemispheric, a NeuroAI company building a platform to decode the human brain, raised $52M in early-stage funding from Hanaco Ventures, OneMind/Awareness Capital, L Catterton, and others

• Rime, a voice AI startup, raised a $24M Series A led by M13 Ventures

• Augmodo, a provider of physical AI assistants for workers, raised a $21M round at a $350M valuation led by TQ Ventures

• Overtone, a fully AI arranged dating app of Hinge founder Justin McLeod, raised an $18M round from Match Group, FirstMark Capital, and Pace Capital

• Meticulous, an AI-powered software testing startup, raised a $15M Series A led by Chemistry

• Vorflux AI, an autonomous software engineering platform startup, raised a $15M seed round led by Y Combinator, Peak XV Partners, and Alliance DAO

Access the complete VC deal flow and data on Fundable

IPOs / Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

• Anthropic is seeking to meet with investors ahead of a potential October IPO

• Chinese optics firm Innolight is set to receive regulator approval for a $7B Hong Kong listing

• a16z-backed biopharma startup Braveheart Bio filed for an IPO

• Immunology biotech Attovia Therapeutics filed for an IPO

• Angola plans to sell stakes in 10 companies including diamond producer Endiama, flag carrier Taag-Linhas Aereas, and fixed-line operator Angola Telecom by year-end

Debt

• Blackstone-backed data center operator QTS Realty Trust scrapped a $1B bond sale for a $3.25B leveraged loan sale led by JPMorgan

• MLB's New York Yankees are in advanced talks to raise $3B of financing from Apollo

• David Beckham-backed supplement brand IM8 lined up $1B in growth financing from General Catalyst

• KKR is marketing a debt deal tied to PayPal's BNPL business in Germany

Bankruptcy / Restructuring / Distressed

• A group of senior creditors to France's Altice telecoms accused the firm of defaulting on $2.3B of debt

Funds / Secondaries

• Carlyle's FOF arm AlpInvest raised $1.7B for its second fund to invest in single-asset CVs

• Professional services-focused LionLight Capital raised $215M for its debut fund

• Swiss investment firm ACE & Company launched a new PE platform

Crypto Sum Snapshot

• Crypto firms are offering pre-IPO perps on Chinese chipmaker CXMT

• Stanford study says Polymarket crypto bets are being manipulated

• Circle clashed with Tether-backed fund over market manipulation concerns

• JPMorgan, BlackRock, and Goldman will tokenize stocks and Treasuries

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

Exec's Picks

• Wall Street banks have a new rival threatening their turf and it's just the PE firm down the block: Apollo.

• FT published an insightful read on why companies can suddenly no longer take their sweet time with CEO succession.

• Also, hedge fund titans have a new alpha engine: smaller rivals.

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!

Meme Cleanser

Merch Store: Visit our merch store to shop our latest apparel, shoes, bags, accessories and more.

Litquidity Ventures: Accredited investors & qualified purchasers within the Litquidity community can gain access to alternative investments such as venture, late-stage growth, and private equity through Litquidity Ventures. Interested? Fill out this form.

☎️ Book a call with Lit: Want to pick Litquidity's brain on business advice, insights, or just chat to say what's up? Buy his time here.

Launch your own newsletter: Have great content ideas and looking to launch your own publication? We highly recommend beehiiv to get started.

*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.