BEFORE THE OPEN

MARKETS:

• U.S. stock futures edge up ahead of the Fed's policy decision

• Dow futures, S&P 500, and Nasdaq 100 futures each gain 0.1%

• Last week, S&P 500 and Nasdaq had two consecutive losing weeks, while Dow slightly rose

• Focus on Fed's stance on inflation; recent data mostly in line with expectations

• Strong labor market and auto worker strike could drive future price increases

• Upcoming economic data releases include Housing Market Index and Business Leaders Survey results

EARNINGS

• Wednesday: FedEx (FDX)

• Thursday: Darden Restaurants (DRL)

• Full earnings calendar here

NEWS BRIEFING

White House Team Deployed to Detroit ‘Early This Week’ to Help Resolve UAW Strike

'Dumb Money': The GameStop Short Squeeze Is Now a Movie

• ‘A real big deal’: Biden backs economic corridor as shifting geopolitical alliances fragment world (more)

• Wall Street comes to grips with how wrong it’s been in 2023 (more)

• U.S. economy is trending in the Fed’s direction, so expect Powell to tread carefully this week (more)

• Cash-squeezed developer Country Garden faces another dollar coupon deadline (more)

• China Evergrande shares tumble 25% after wealth management staff detained (more)

• EU may become as hooked on China batteries as it was on Russian energy (more)

• UAW strike brings blue-collar vs. billionaire battle to the Motor City (more)

  • Automakers, UAW spend strike’s first day in war of words (more)

• ARM options to be available for Ttading on Monday after IPO (more)

• SoftBank left millions on the table to engineer a win for Masayoshi Son (more)

• Sequoia and Andreessen get hosed on 2021 Instacart investment after 75% plunge in valuation (more)

• Disney asset sales won’t break the bank, but they will move legacy media forward (more)

  • Mogul Byron Allen makes $10 billion bid for Disney's ABC, other networks (more)

• Hollywood is paying a steep price for never really figuring out the streaming model (more)

• World is struggling to make enough diesel (more)

• Bank of Montreal to close retail auto finance business, flags job losses (more)

• German economic weakness belies France's outperformance (more)

• Billionaires’ Row in NYC retreats from its shock-and-awe pricing (more)

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DEALFLOW

• SoftBank seeks OpenAI tie-up as Son plans deal spree after Arm IPO (more)

• Pfizer’s $43 billion Seagen takeover gets EU merger review (more)

• Feminine-care products maker Honey Pot is exploring a sale (more)

• Discover considers possible sale of its student-loan arm (more)

• All3Media owners kick off sale process (more)

• Hitachi offers to sell assets to win EU okay for Thales rail deal (more)

• Generate:Biomedics, a clinical-stage biotherapeutics company, raised $273M in Series C funding (more)

• Helsing, a defense AI company, raised €209M in Series B funding (more)

• Cervin Ventures, an early-stage venture capital firm, closed $162m in new capital (more)

• Sonex Health, a company specializing in the ultrasound-guided treatment of common orthopedic syndromes affecting the extremities, raised $40M in Series B funding (more)

• Linear, a provider of a project and issue tracking system that teams, raised $35M in Series B funding (more)

• Duckbill, a maker of an execution engine that gives people a personal assistant combined with AI’s efficiency, raised $33M in seed and Series A funding (more)

• Moment, a fintech startup providing an institutional-grade fixed income solution, raised $17M in Series A funding (more)

• Evolectric, an Electric Vehicle (EV) technology company, raised $15M from Seismic Capital (more)

• Goodles, a noodle brand, raised $13M in Series A funding (more)

• Superorder (fka Forward Kitchens), a provider of growth management tools to restaurants, raised $10M in Series A and angel funding (more)

• Carenostics, a healthcare AI startup for chronic disease, raised $5M in Seed funding (more)

• Learn.xyz, a generative AI learning startup, closed a $3M seed financing round (more)

• Spectro Cloud, a provider of a platform about Kubernetes management, received an investment from Qualcomm Ventures (more)

• NY-based Superorganism has launched as venture capital firm supporting early-stage technology startups dedicated to the global biodiversity crisis (more)

• Vortex Companies, a provider of trenchless infrastructure rehabilitation products and services, received an investment from Quad-C Management (more)

M & A:

• London-Listed Rockfire to buy suspended Dubai gold refinery (more)

• Ardonagh sells £1.2 billion insurance unit to Markerstudy (more)

• 777 Partners agrees to buy Everton, tightening US grip on English football (more)

• GTCR, a private equity firm, acquired Foundation Source, a provider of philanthropy management solutions (more)

CRYPTO

• Ethereum unveils shiny new Testnet, what does it do (more)

• FTX bolsters claims portal security measures following cyber breach (more)

• Jaguars QB Trevor Lawrence settles FTX e

• ndorsement lawsuit (more)

• Ex-Deutsche Bank banker will plead guilty to Crypto fraud (more)

BULLISH BITES

🎓 Ultra-Rich Buy Ultra-Luxury Counseling to Get Kids Into Harvard
With 24/7 tutors and lots of hand-holding, high-end consultants are taking the admissions race to the next level. Sooner or later, every parent asks Christopher Rim the same question: What will it take to get my kid into Harvard or Yale? → Bloomberg

🍎 Behind Warren Buffett's $100 Billion-Plus Bet on Apple and the iPhone
The "Oracle of Omaha" called the iPhone "an extraordinary product" and Apple a better business than any of Berkshire's wholly-owned subsidiaries. → CNBC

DAILY SHARES

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