BEFORE THE OPEN

MARKETS:

• Dow closes at another record high, up 158 points, reaching 37,248.35.

• S&P 500 gains 0.26%, inching closer to its all-time close from January 2022.

• Nasdaq climbs 0.19%, still some distance from its record levels.

• 10-year Treasury yield falls below 4%, signaling bets on 2034 rate cuts.

• Solar stocks rise as yields drop; Invesco Solar ETF gains over 8%.

• Moderna shares surge 9.3% on positive trial data for cancer vaccine with Merck's Keytruda.

EARNINGS

What we’re watching:

• Today:

  • Darden Restaurants (DRI) - expected: $1.73 per share (+13.8% YoY) on $2.7 billion revenue (+8.0% YoY)

Full earnings calendar here

NEWS BRIEFING

Wall Street Cheered Best Fed Day Since 2009 on Rate Cut Elation

Blackstone Goes All-In on Taylor Swift Fandom With Holiday Video (we had to)

• US economy still resilient as retail sales beat expectations, layoffs stay low (more)

• Congress passes $886 billion defense policy bill, Biden to sign into law (more)

• Biden administration to impose inflation penalties on dozens of drugmakers (more)

• Gen Z voters said Biden is doing "too little" on student loans (more)

• Mortgage rates in US slide below 7% for First time since August (more)

• China to run budget gap of 3% of GDP in 2024, issue special debt (more)

• JPMorgan strategist sees a big credit ‘reckoning’ in 2024 (more)

• Property crash draws short-sellers. Better late than never (more)

• Top EVs are losing tax credits next year as U.S. boots China from supply chain (more)

• GM's Cruise lay off 24% of its workforce (more)

• Intel unveils new AI chip to compete with Nvidia and AMD (more)

• Amazon courts sellers at China summit as Temu and Shein gain momentum (more)

• Citi shuts muni business that once was envy of rivals (more)

• Starbucks closed 23 U.S. stores to deter unionizing (more)

• Google to test new feature limiting advertisers' use of browser tracking cookies (more)

• Disney prepares for bitter battle as activist Peltz seeks two board seats (more)

• Tesla is cutting prices again, in a different way (more)

• "Average customer doesn't care terribly much about sustainability" says LVMH US head (more)

TOGETHER WITH TRADINGVIEW

Where the world charts, chats, and trades markets…

DEALFLOW

M & A | INVESTMENTS:

• Blackstone, CPPIB take $1.2 Billion stake in Signature Bank deal (more)

• OMV, ADNOC close to agreeing deal for chemicals company tie up (more)

• Pfizer Inc. (PFE) completed the acquisition of Seagen Inc. (SGEN), a biotechnology company that discovers, develops and commercializes transformative cancer medicines (more)

• PennSpring Capital, an investment firm focused on lower middle market opportunities, acquired Zirtual, a provider of virtual assistant services, from preeminent accelerator startups (more)

• India's Adani Ports to sell Ennore terminal stake to MSC unit for $30M (more)

• Citi's Mexico unit set to split off by late 2024 (more)

• Quantum Workplace, a provider of an employee success platform, acquired TalentKeepers, a provider of employee engagement and retention solutions (more)

• Edelman Financial Engines acquires New England Pension Plan Systems (more)

• Delos Capital-Backed Le Sueur Buys Craft Pattern (more)

• Thoma Bravo acquires majority stake in Hypergene (more)

• Argosy Private Equity acquires controlling stake in Wize Solutions (more)

• RF-backed Ally Waste buys Waste Consolidators (more)

• Rubelmann Capital buys pet food distributor John A. Van Den Bosch (more)

• Thoma Bravo Invests in BlueMatrix (more)

• Pritzker Private Capital acquires HeartLand (more)

VC

• Parse Biosciences, a provider of scalable single-cell sequencing solutions, raised $50M in financing from a Series C equity and the closing of a debt facility (more)

• Amide Technologies, a biotech that synthesizes challenging peptides, $16.5M in total funding (more)

• Friendlier, a reusable packaging company, raised $5M in funding (more)

• Datalogz, a company specializing in ending Business Intelligence sprawl for data-mature organizations globally, raised $5M in funding (more)

• Myrias Optics, a developer of all-inorganic printed meta-optics, raised $3M in Seed funding (more)

• Cadenza Bio, a biotechnology company, raised $2.44M in Series Seed funding (more)

FUNDRAISING

• Ara Partners, a private equity and infrastructure investment firm, closed over $3B in new capital commitments for ARA Fund III (more)

• Sandbrook Capital closes inaugural climate infrastructure Fund at $1.5B (more)

• BoxGroup, a venture capital firm, closed two funds, totaling $425M (more)

• Playground Global, an early-stage venture capital firm investing in entrepreneurs who have developed breakthroughs in frontier technologies, raised $410M in new capital for Fund III (more)

• Artis Ventures, a venture capital firms that partners with entrepreneurs driven to impact the world by reshaping and reinventing industries, announced the close of its fourth fund, TechBio II, at $200M (more)

• A group of seasoned founders, CEOs, operators and VC’s announced the launch of Climactic, a NYC and SF-based venture capital firm, with a $65M inaugural fund dedicated to accelerating the growth of software-first climate tech startups (more)

Was this briefing forwarded to you? Sign Up Here

CRYPTO

• Is Crypto’s next magic money tree in the UAE? (more)

• Financial regulators reiterate call for legislation to address crypto risks (more)

• Early Ethereum backers Cyber.Fund to invest $100M in 'cybernetic economy' (more)

BULLISH BITES

🐂 Poetic: Bull was on the loose in Newark causing delays for NJ transit riders.

🦕 Relics? American colleges are losing their students and money.

 🌺 Home away: Mark Zuckerberg is building a Hawaii compound suitable for the apocalypse.

🚙 Future things: Cars that change colors—and other new auto tech on the way.

🐝 Why wait? Start your own newsletter—Beehiiv has everything you need in a single platform (and super easy, too!)… start your free trial now

DAILY SHARES

Like what you see? Get tomorrow’s briefing here

Keep the curation going! Buy the team a coffee ☕️

Have a comment or suggestion? We’d love to hear it!
💌 Send us a message

ADVERTISE | SUBSCRIBE