Legacy media's shakedown

BEFORE THE OPEN

Markets:

• Flat stock futures ahead of big banks' earnings.

• S&P 500, Dow Jones, and Nasdaq futures see minor shifts.

• S&P 500, Nasdaq reach highest close since April 2022 during regular trading.

• Fourth consecutive day of gains for major averages.

• Producer Price Index signals lower-than-expected inflation.

• Trader optimism spurs on speculations of stocks rising by year-end.

• Major averages display significant weekly gains; Nasdaq leads with 3.5% leap.

• Anticipation builds for JPMorgan, Wells Fargo, Citi, BlackRock, State Street, and UnitedHealth Q2 earnings.

• June import prices, preliminary July UoM consumer sentiment report due.

EARNINGS

What we’re watching:

• Today: 

  • BlackRock (BLK)

  • Citigroup (C)

  • JPMorgan Chase (JPM)

  • State Street (STT)

  • UnitedHealth Group (UNH)

  • Wells Fargo (WFC)

• Full earnings calendar here

NEWS BRIEFING

Disney Could Soon Sell Its TV Assets As CEO Bob Iger Says Business ‘May Not Be Core’ To The Company

• Disney CEO Bob Iger on media landscape: “Challenges are greater than I had anticipated”:

  • Disney pulling back on making Marvel, Star Wars content, Iger says (more)

  • DeSantis claims that Disney sexualizes children are ‘preposterous,’ Iger says (more)

  • Disney is open to finding a new strategic partner for ESPN, Iger says (more)

• U.S. Treasury posts sharply higher $228 billion June deficit (more)

• Biden says 'I absolutely guarantee' U.S. commitment to NATO (more)

• Asian equities poised to extend weekly rally (more)

• World’s biggest pension fund GPIF boosts its treasuries holdings (more)

• FTC investigating ChatGPT-maker OpenAI for possible consumer harm (more)

• Amazon touts ‘biggest ever’ Prime Day as U.S. online sales surge to $12.7 billion (more)

• Founder of crypto lender Celsius Network arrested, charged with fraud (more)

• Twitter offers ad revenue share to select content creators (more)

  • Twitter says FTC probe ‘has spiraled out of control’ and asks to terminate privacy settlement (more)

• Meta Threads engagement has dropped off since red-hot debut, tracking firms say (more)

• FDA approves first over-the-counter birth control pill (more)

• ‘Chiplets’ are emerging as a core part of China’s tech strategy (more)

• World’s fastest-growing whisky market Is South Korea (more)

• Hollywood actors poised to strike, join writers on picket lines (more)

• Epstein-Staley emails reveal friendship forged at JPMorgan (more)

DEALFLOW

• Exxon to buy Denbury in $4.9 billion deal (more)

• Goldman Sachs offloads $1 billion of Marcus loans to Varde (more)

• Snowflake backer Wing closes $600M AI-focused fund (more)

• Chindata says largest shareholder Bain will not sell stake after rival bid (more)

• Angelo Gordon-backed REIT in $300M bid for Western Asset Mortgage (more)

• Open-source AI model creator Nomic raises $17M led by Coatue (more)

• Caledonia Investments solicits bids for $585M wealth manager 7IM (more)

• SpiceJet says top shareholder to inject $61M in airline (more)

• LunarCrush raises $5M in Series A (more)

• Beacon Biosignals acquires Dreem (more)

• Entrata acquires Rent Dynamics (more)

• Parker Health, a biotech company, raised $25M in Series A (more)

• Aktivate, scholastic sports management software, raised $3.7M in Series A (more)

• The Riverside Company, a global private investment firm focused on smaller end of middle market, closed its Riverside Value Fund I (RVF I), at $350M (more)

• Zluri, a provider of a SaaS operations (SaaSOps) platform, raised $20M in funding (more)

• HawkEye 360, a defense technology company providing global knowledge of human activity/trends derived from RF geospatial intelligence, raised $58M in Series D-1 (more)

• MerQube, a company specializing in technology for index-linked investing, raised USD 22M in Series B (more)

• Simbe, a company leveraging AI and robotics to automate processes for retailers, raised $28M in Series B (more)

• Avnos, a company developing Hybrid Direct Air Capture technology for CO2 removal, raised funding totaling over $80M (more)

• Azolla Ventures raises new $239M fund to support overlooked climate solutions (more)

• Modi Ventures launches with $32 Million Tech+Bio fund (more)

• Barcode, fitness drink maker, received investment from Victor Wembanyama, the No. 1 overall pick of the 2023 NBA Draft (more)

CRYPTO

• Celsius Network's Alex Mashinsky is arrested as SEC, CFTC, FTC sue bankrupt crypto lender (more)

  • Read regulators’ lawsuits against Celsius and Mashinsky here

• Ripple token is security in institutional sales, judge says (more)

• Lummis, Gillibrand revamp US crypto bill with juiced-up consumer protection (more)

• BlockFi settles with management over crypto lender’s collapse (more)

BULLISH BITES

🏏 Major League Cricket: Cricket-loving billionaires are bringing their childhood game to the US Major Leagues (read more)

💰 The Top 1%: How much income do you need to crack America's richest 1%? A new study used IRS data to determine what it takes to be among the wealthiest households in the US. (read more)

SHARES

Have a spectacular weekend! See you bright & early Monday… -mb