BEFORE THE OPEN

MARKETS:

• Dow hits record high, closing above 37,000 for the first time.

• S&P 500 crosses 4,700, also reaching levels last seen in January 2022.

• Nasdaq climbs with all three major indexes hitting fresh 52-week highs.

• Federal Reserve signals plans for three rate cuts in 2024, citing eased inflation.

• Inflation forecast lowered to 2.4% for 2024, down from 2.6%.

EARNINGS

What we’re watching this week:

• Today: Lennar (LEN)

  • Costco Wholesale (COST) - expected: $3.41 per share (+11.1% YoY) on $57.7 billion revenue (+8.1% YoY)

• Friday:

  • 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

Fed Holds Rates Steady, Indicates Three Cuts Coming in 2024

Tesla Recalls Nearly All Vehicles on US Roads Over Lack of Autopilot Safeguards

• Dow ends at record high as Fed says it sees lower borrowing costs in 2024 (more)

• 10-year Treasury yield drops to lowest level since August as Fed forecasts easing rates 3 times next year (more)

• Wholesale prices held flat in November, providing another encouraging inflation signal (more)

• House approves resolution demanding MIT, Harvard presidents resign after antisemitism testimony (more)

• Mortgage refinance applications surge as rates drop to 6-month low (more)

• FCC votes to ban termination fees for cable and satellite services (more)

• China makes plans to revive economy in 2024 (more)

• China chip firm powered by US tech and money avoids Biden's crackdown (more)

• Etsy stock falls after company lays off 11% of its staff, citing ‘very challenging’ environment (more)

• Citi offers partial early bonuses to encourage staff departures (more)

• SpaceX valuation climbs to $180 billion (more)

• OpenAI, Axel Springer strike unprecedented deal to offer news in ChatGPT (more)

• Man Group CEO Robyn Grew Says Asset Managers Ready for M&A Wave (more)

• Apple now requires a judge's consent to hand over push notification data (more)

• Nestle CEO sees weight-loss drugs lifting vitamin sales (more)

• McDonald's concept CosMc's could win the coffee war against Starbucks and Dunkin' (more)

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DEALFLOW

M & A | INVESTMENTS:

• AbbVie pays $10.1B for drugmaker ImmunoGen (more)

• Carlyle weighs $4.6 billion exit for Switzerland’s Acrotec (more)

• CD&R acquires snack foods manufacturer Shearer’s Foods (more)

• Integra buys Ethicon for up to $280M (more)

• Windjammer Capital acquires Bio X Cell (more)

• Bain Capital buys controlling stake in Swedish infrastructure firm Eleda (more)

• Cognizant has entered into an agreement to acquire Thirdera, an Elite ServiceNow Partner specializing in advisory, implementation and optimization solutions related to the ServiceNow platform (more)

• Help at Home PE owners reportedly weigh sale of $3B Healthcare Firm (more)

• Accel-KKR invests in Ntracts (more)

• WTWH Media, a Cleveland, OH-based digital-first B2B media and marketing company, acquired Engineering.com, a leading digital B2B media company (more)

• Morrow Sodali, a company specializing in stakeholder engagement advisory services, acquired Domestique, a corporate communication and reputation management company (more)

• Perion Network, a multi-channel advertising technology company, acquired Hivestack Inc., a programmatic digital out of home (DOOH) company (more)

VC

• Tome Biosciences, Inc., a programmable genomic integration company, raised $213M in Series A and B funding (more)

• Bicara Therapeutics, a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing dual-action biologics to elicit a potent and durable immune response, closed a $165M Series C financing (more)

• Twin Health, a creator of the Whole Body Digital Twin™ service for reversing, improving, and preventing chronic metabolic diseases, raised $50M in funding (more)

• Zuper, a provider of solutions to scale and modernize fast-growing businesses with field operations, closed a $32M Series B funding (more)

• Dimensional Energy, a provider of carbon utilization technology, Sustainable Aviation Fuel production and advanced carbon emissions-derived fuels and materials, raised $20M in Series A funding (more)

• Verve Motion, a wearable robotics technology company, raised $20M in Series B funding (more)

• Chalk, a provider of a data platform for machine learning, raised $10M in Seed funding (more)

• Encellin, a biotechnology company developing a cell encapsulation platform with an initial focus on Type 1 Diabetes, closed a $9.9M financing round (more)

• Delphina, an LLM-powered copilot for data science, closed a $7.5M seed funding round (more)

• AllSpice.io, a provider of a hardware development platform for empowers engineers to modernize their collaboration and workflows, raised Additional $6M in Venture funding (more)

• Featureform, an MLOps feature store for building AI and ML systems, raised $5.5M in Seed funding (more)

• Inductive Bio, a technology company developing a machine learning (ML) platform designed to accelerate the compound optimization process, raised $4.3M in Seed funding (more)

• Stem Cell Implants, a provider of biotechnology dental implant, raised an undisclosed amount in Seed funding (more)

• Provision IAM, a technology company specializing in Identity Security for financial institutions, raised an undisclosed amount in funding (more)

• Powerside, a provider of power monitoring solutions, received a growth funding of undisclosed amount from Energy Growth Momentum (more)

• SellersFi (formerly SellersFunding), a FinTech offering innovative financial products to online sellers, raised a funding round of undisclosed amount (more)

• Zafrens, a multi-modality drug discovery company, raised $23M in funding (more)

FUNDRAISING

• Falfurrias Management Partners, a lower middle-market private equity firm, closed Falfurrias Growth Partners I (FGP), at $400M (more)

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CRYPTO

• Coinbase unveils plans for enhanced spot markets and reduced latency (more)

• Crackdown-hit crypto industry sets sights on Abu Dhabi (more)

• CFTC pushes FTX-inspired rule to protect customers' money (more)

BULLISH BITES

✨ Magic: With AI Studio, Google launches an easy-to-use tool for developing apps and chatbots based on its Gemini model.

🍫 Shortlist: The 13 best chocolates in 2023, tested and reviewed by a professional chocolatier.

🛍 OutShein’d: How Shein outgrew Zara and H&M and pioneered fast-fashion 2.0.

🤑 Pay to play: Welcome to the ad-free internet.

🐝 2024: Want to start your own newsletter? The new year is a perfect time and Beehiiv has everything you need in a single platform (and it’s so easy!)… start your free trial now

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