BEFORE THE OPEN

MARKETS:

• Flat stock futures with slight gains.

• Dow futures up 0.1%, S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 futures both up 0.1%.

• Costco down 2.5% after mixed Q4 results.

• Main trading session: Dow -1.14%, S&P 500 -1.47%, Nasdaq -1.57% on missed economic data.

• September's seasonally weak, with S&P 500 -5.2%, Dow -3.2%, Nasdaq -7%.

• Volatility expected into October; Earnings season mid-October could be a market catalyst.

• Wednesday: Durable goods orders, Paychex earnings, Micron Technology's quarterly release.

EARNINGS

Here’s what we’re watching this week:

• Today: Micron Technology (MU)

• Thursday: Nike (NKE)

• Full earnings calendar here

NEWS BRIEFING

Biden Says UAW Should Fight for 40% Pay Raise in Michigan Strike Visit

OpenAI Seeks $90 Billion Valuation in Possible Share Sale

• Moody's warns government shutdown could hurt US credit rating (more)

• FTC and 17 states sue Amazon on antitrust charges (more)

• FCC announces plans to reinstate net neutrality (more)

• US consumer confidence dives to four-month low; home sales tumble (more)

• Elon Musk says auto union’s demands would bankrupt big three carmakers (more)

• ‘Unprecedented’ secrecy in Google trial as tech giants push to limit disclosures (more)

• Asia stocks mixed as investors grapple with higher rates (more)

• Alibaba’s logistics arm files for $1 billion-plus IPO (more)

• Private equity is piling debt on itself like never before (more)

• Citibank raises $5 billion in first bank-level bond since 2019 (more)

• Amazon faces landmark monopoly lawsuit by FTC (more)

• Target says it will close nine stores in major cities, citing violence and theft (more)

• McKinsey agrees to pay $230 Million to settle more opioid suits (more)

• Uber partners with California taxi operators to boost supply (more)

• Peloton co-founder and Chief Product Officer Tom Cortese is leaving the company (more)

• Telegram starts to look like a super app, echoing WeChat (more)

• Evergrande’s billionaire Chairman Hui is under police surveillance (more)

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DEALFLOW

• Liberty Media proposes merger with radio broadcaster Sirius XM (more)

• Paine Schwartz Partners, a private equity firm specializing in sustainable food chain investing, closed its $1.7B food and agribusiness-focused Fund VI (more)

• UK's Pendragon gets $544 million takeover proposal from AutoNation (more)

• Sierra Space, a pureplay commercial space company, raised $290M in Series B funding (more)

• Anzu Partners, an investment firm delivering capital and strategic support to early-stage breakthrough technology companies, raised more than $200M at the close of its third venture capital fund (more)

• Adela, a company specializing in blood testing for minimal residual disease monitoring and early cancer detection, raised $48M in funding (more)

• P1 Ventures, a Seed VC firm, completed the first $25M close of its second fund (more)

• Cartwheel, a provider of a platform helping schools tackle the student mental health crisis by delivering telehealth services, raised $20M in Series A funding (more)

• Kolena, an AI and machine learning model testing company, raised $15M in Series A funding (more)

• Collective Liquidity, a company providing financial tools for employees, extended its Series A to $12M (more)

• QT Medical, a medtech company focused on cardiac care technology, raised $12M in Series B funding (more)

• Erudit, an AI company that helps leaders improve culture and productivity, raised $10M in Series A funding (more)

• Airmart, an e-commerce platform for community group buying in the US, raised $8.2M in funding (more)

• Digma, a provider of a continuous feedback platform for developers to analyze code, raised $6M in funding (more)

• Pontoro, a financial technology company creating a proprietary and structurally differentiated platform, raised $4.6M in Seed II funding (more)

• Crediverso, a Spanish and English language consumer technology company providing financial and educational resources to underserved communities, raised an additional $3.5M in funding (more)

• Meeno, a relationship mentoring company, raised in Seed funding (more)

• AnchorWatch, an insurer that covers commercial entities holding Bitcoin, raised $3M in funding (more)

• 360ofme, a provider of an ethical data exchange platform, raised an undisclosed amount in Seed funding (more)

M & A:

• Italy's Alfasigma to buy drugmaker Intercept for nearly $800M (more)

• Varian, a Siemens Healthineers company, acquired Aspekt Solutions, a provider of medical physics, dosimetry, and strategy consultation services (more)

• Titan Cloud, a Fuel Asset Optimization software platform, acquired Leighton O’Brien, a global fuel analytics software and field technologies provider (more)

• KKR-Backed Apexanalytix Buys Darkbeam (more)

• Arlington acquires Exostar from Thoma Bravo (more)

CRYPTO

• SEC once again defers decision on ARK 21Shares spot Bitcoin ETF filing (more)

• JPMorgan's UK bank Chase to ban crypto transactions (more)

• Stablecoin issuers risk disrupting funding markets (more)

BULLISH BITES

📉 The Fall of What Was India’s Most Valuable Startup
Once a $22 billion ed-tech giant, Byju’s is now dealing with lawsuits and questions over its financial management → WSJ

🥤 Coca-Cola's New AI-Generated Soda Flavor Falls Flat
CokeGPT is about as half-baked as all of the hype surrounding AI → Gizmodo

🎧 [AUDIO] The Next Elon Musk?
Sam Parr talks to Brett Adcock about how he nearly went bankrupt after his +$100m exit from Vettery (now Hired). How? Betting everything on the next big idea. And he’s doing it again today with Figure.ai, a robotics company bringing a general-purpose humanoid to life. → Listen

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