BEFORE THE OPEN BEFORE

MARKETS:

• U.S. S&P 500 futures hold steady after major losses last week.

• Futures for broader S&P 500 up 0.03%; Dow Jones futures down 0.02%; Nasdaq 100 futures rise 0.18%.

• Palo Alto Networks surges 11% post earnings, down 16% for the month.

• Friday session mixed: Dow adds 0.07%, S&P 500 dips 0.01%, Nasdaq falls 0.2%.

• Weekly decline for major averages amid summer slowdown: Nasdaq -2.6% (3-week streak), Dow -2.2%, S&P 500 -2.1% (3-week decline).

• Impact of rising bond yields, China's weakness dampen markets; Friday sees bond yield retreat.

• Upcoming week includes Nvidia's earnings release on Wednesday, Powell's Jackson Hole address Friday.

EARNINGS

What we’re watching:

• Monday: Zoom Video Communications (ZM)

• Tuesday: Toll Brothers (TOL)

• Wednesday: Nvidia (NVDA)

• Thursday: Dollar Tree (DLTR)

• Full earnings calendar here

NEWS BRIEFING

The Case for Investing in Emerging Markets Is Fading in August

Cruise Slashes Robotaxi Fleet in Half Following Collision Incidents

• SoCal residents feel magnitude 5.1 earthquake as Tropical Storm Hilary descends on region (more)

• Biden to reassure Maui’s Lahaina residents they will control rebuilding after devastating wildfires (more)

• All eyes on Fed Chief Powell in Jackson Hole (more)

• Borrowers with $39B in student loans finally see relief (more)

• Risk appetite eases $1.6 trillion maturity wall (more)

• Zelenskyy vows retaliation for Chernihiv attack that killed 7 people and wounded almost 150 (more)

• China urges more loans, debt risk reduction as woes compound (more)

• China's property downturn spreads to trophy office buildings (more)

• Goldman cuts China stock targets on renewed property concerns (more)

• UK property sellers cut asking prices at sharpest pace this year (more)

• Westpac Bank sees modest increase in stress amid inflation rise (more)

• Looming auto workers strike could cost US billions in mere days

  (more)

• Nissan recalling 236k Sentras over possible steering control problem (more)

• Old Dominion tops Estes’ bid for Yellow terminals (more)

• Parents shift to Venmo, PayPal, Zelle to pay teens (more)

• Google’s plans to purge inactive accounts (more)

• Meta to launch web version of Threads App early next week (more)

• Musk says block feature on X, formerly known as Twitter, will be going away (more)

• Spotify considered removing white noise podcasts to avoid creator payouts (more)

• Rolls-Royce debuts Droptail Roadster, priced at over $30M (more)

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DEALFLOW

• DuPont to sell Delrin resins unit to PE firm for around $1.8B (more)

• US insurance giant Marsh set for $448 Million Honan deal (more)

• Instacart plans for September IPO in boost for US listings (more)

• Hg weighs options for €1.5 billion insurance broker GGW (more)

• Dalian Wanda weighs sale of Olympics media rights manager Infront (more)

• Swire in talks to buy minority stake in Indonesia’s Pertamedika IHC (more)

• GQG Partners buys additional stake in Adani Ports (more)

• RRJ invests $300M in Yinson in Its first Malaysia deal (more)

• EarthLink, an internet service provider delivering access to homes and small businesses and a Trive portfolio company, acquired One Ring Networks, a Fixed Wireless provider of voice and data services (more)

• PES Benefits, a benefits technology, administration, education, and virtual care industry company, acquired nRollTech, a benefits technology company (more)

• Canto, a provider of digital asset management (DAM) software, acquired MerlinOne, a DAM company which specializes in AI-centric solutions to organize and find digital content (more)

• Securitize, a company specializing in expanding investor and business access to tokenized alternative assets, acquired Onramp Invest, a provider od a digital asset wealth platform (more)

• TransMedics (Nasdaq: TMDX), a medical technology company, acquired Summit Aviation, a charter flight operator (more)

• Teamshares, a company dedicated to employee ownership of small businesses, raised a cumulative $245M in previously unannounced equity from venture capital firms, including a recent $124M Series D financing (more)

• Viome Life Sciences, a longevity and preventative healthcare company, raised $86.5M in Series C funding (more)

• Wall Street Memes, a Meme stocks-inspired community-powered coin, raised $25M in its presale (more)

• Metabase Q, a provider of a cybersecurity solution focused on protecting multi-national corporations in Latin America, raised $3M in Series A funding (more)

• Lore, a provider of a blockchain tools and data company, raised $2.3M in funding (more)

• LighthouseAI, a provider of compliance solutions for the pharmaceutical supply chain, raised $2.25M in funding (more)

• Arpio, a provider of a disaster recovery (DR) solution for Amazon Web Services (AWS), raised $8.2M in funding (more)

• The Contract Network, a provider of an AI-powered contract collaboration platform, raised $8M in Seed funding (more)

• Longevo, a provider of a preventative health, fitness, and wellness platform for individuals and corporations, raised $5.5M in funding (more)

• VBA, a provider of cloud-based benefits software for healthcare payers, raised $156M in Growth funding (more)

• Abcuro, a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing therapies for the treatment of autoimmune diseases and cancer, raised $155M in Series B funding (more)

• IBM (NYSE: IBM) is expanding its collaboration with Microsoft to help joint clients accelerate the deployment of generative AI (more)

• Dinari, a blockchain-powered stock trading platform provider, raises $7.5M in seed funding (more)

• Antares Audio Technologies, a developer of an auto-tune vocal enhancement software suite, received a minority Investment from Atairos (more)

• Venteur, a health insurance system startup, raised $7.6M in Seed funding (more)

CRYPTO

• SEC moves to appeal Ripple ruling that XRP token is not a security (more)

• Crypto startup aims to tokenize stocks by playing by the rules (more)

• Gemini files brief in lawsuit against SEC, requests to keep it simple (more)

• DeFi protocol exactly loses $12 Million In optimism layer 2 hack (more)

• Crypto mixer Tornado Cash loses lawsuit over US sanctions (more)

BULLISH BITES

🇨🇳 China's 40-Year Boom Is Over. What Comes Next?…
The economic model that took the country from poverty to great-power status seems broken, and everywhere are signs of distress... (continue reading)

📈 Lessons Learned from Studying the Herd Mentality of Venture Capitalists…
In recent years, the world of VCs is like a continuous race from one zeitgeist to the next - like micro mobility, last mile delivery, crypto, web3 or SPACs. If AI is the word on everyone's lips today, the response is almost Pavlovian. Almost every startup morphes overnight into an AI enterprise to catch the attention of VCs, and meetings are becoming increasingly exclusive to AI pitches… is it time for a much-needed reevaluation?

DAILY SHARES

Thank you for reading. Have any suggestions for MarketBriefing? We’d love to hear it. Share your suggestions here… -mb