Bad Time to Be a Bond

Together with

Good Morning,

The bond market selloff showed signs of cooling after Fed officials hinted at no urgency for consecutive rate hikes. While yields are at multi-decade highs across the globe, stocks are still trading near ATHs.

Columbia Business School Exec Ed and Wall Street Prep are back with their flagship certificate program on AI for Business & Finance, covering everything from GenAI foundations to advanced ML, all while offering access to a global network of industry veterans. Enroll today and save with our LITQUIDITY discount.

Let's dive in.

Before The Bell

Learn more about the Litquidity portfolios and subscribe to the strategies on Autopilot.*

Markets

• US stocks closed mostly flat yesterday as the bond selloff showed some signs of cooling

• UK 30Y topped 6%, the highest since 1998

• Munis fell 4.4% for their worst month since 2008

Earnings

• Nike beat Q1 earnings estimates but missed on revenue and announced another restructuring that will result in layoffs beginning in 2027 (CNBC)

• Accenture beat Q4 earnings and revenue estimates on big-ticket client bookings on AI-fueled growth (CNBC)

• Full calendar here

Prediction Markets

• Odds of an October rate hike plunged after Fed officials hinted at no urgency for consecutive rate hikes

• Deposit $10 and get a $20 bonus with code LIT on signup, only on the Polymarket US app

Headline Roundup

• Federal officials indicate no urgency for back-to-back rate hikes (RT)

• US Q2 GDP growth was revised higher to 2.2% YoY (RT)

• US firms announce fewest September job cuts since 2022 (BBG)

• France is ground zero in the global bond rout (WSJ)

• Investors are wary of slowdown in US corporate profit boom (RT)

• Investors sold mortgage bond ETFs at the fastest rate since Covid (RT)

• Volatility control funds near record equity exposure, raising selloff risk (RT)

• Global dealmaking cooled in Q3 (WSJ)

• US law firm mergers dipped in Q3 (RT)

• Carlyle warns private credit's AI push raises concentration risk (BBG)

• India brushes off stock struggles to set IPO record in September (BBG)

• Bridgewater's flagship macro fund is up 18% YTD (RT)

• Tech CEOs privately questioned Amodei for sounding AI alarm bells (WSJ)

• Weil is set to lose key UK PE partners as exits mount (BBG)

• Miami project has sold $1.7B of condos without being built (BBG)

A Message from Wall Street Prep

Ask your employer to pay for your AI certification.

1 in 3 students in the AI for Business & Finance Certificate Program are employer-sponsored. If you've still got professional development funds sitting unused this year, this is what to spend them on.

• Build AI frameworks for your own role using real business case studies

• Learn from Columbia Business School Exec Ed faculty in live office hours

• Gain an MBA-level network, plus lifetime access to in-person meetups and networking events

8 weeks, self-paced, all online. Starts November 9.

Get the syllabus →

Deal Flow

M&A / Strategic

• Kone plans to sell most of TK Elevator's European business in a bid to tackle antitrust concerns over its planned $33.3B purchase from PE firms Advent and Cinven

• Sanofi and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals are expanding their development and commercial partnership by another $8B

• Authentic Brands Group is interested in acquiring Barbie-maker Mattel for over $6B

• Transurban Group agreed to buy $3.1B of Australian toll road assets from Canada's CPPIB

• BAE Systems, CVC, Blackstone, Advent, and EQT are weighing making bids for Parcom-owned Dutch drone detection firm Robin Radar Systems, which could fetch $2.25B

• Lufthansa and Air France-KLM raised their offers for a 49.9% stake in TAP Air Portugal to over $1.1B

• Pritzker Private Capital is exploring a $1B sale of Energy Distribution Partners

• Australia's Lynas Rare Earths will acquire Meteoric Resources in a $670M all-share deal

• Japanese electronic component maker Nidec plans to sell off low-profit units such as household appliances and automotive motors while investing in businesses for the AI, chips and energy sectors to restore investor trust after an accounting scandal

• Sweden's Pophouse Entertainment Group acquired a 50% stake in the publishing and recording rights of Australian singer-songwriter Sia

• Spanish lender Caixabank will assess a potential acquisition ​of Cetelem's consumer lending business ​in Spain and Portugal, owned by ⁠BNP Paribas

• Malaysia Aviation Group, ​the parent of national ‌carrier Malaysia Airlines, will ⁠acquire Airbus unit ​Sepang Aircraft Engineering

• Warburg Pincus is in talks to acquire a substantial stake in Franco-German tankmaker KNDS from the founders' Wegmann & Co vehicle

VC

• SoftBank completed its $30B investment in OpenAI

• Homeward, a leader in cash-backed real estate financing solutions, raised a $120M Series D and $330M in asset-backed debt led by Saluda Grade

• AI-native cybersecurity company Armadin raised a $255M Series B at a $2.5B valuation co-led by a16z and Accel

• Volantis, a semiconductor company building a photonic AI inference architecture, raised an $88M Series A co-led by Lachy Groom and Abstract Ventures

• doxx.net, an Agentic Defined Networking (ADN) platform provider, raised a $38M Series A led by a16z

• Halluminate, an AI training-environment startup focused on financial work, raised a $30M Series A led by Oak HC/FT

• Hilbert, an AI-driven analytics platform for B2C consumer brands, raised a $28M Series A led by a16z

Access the complete VC deal flow and data on Fundable

IPOs / Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

• Anthropic plans to launch its $100B IPO before Thanksgiving

• Airtel Africa, the African telecoms unit of Indian conglomerateBharti Enterprises, plans to raise $700M at a $7B valuation in a London IPO of its mobile money business Airtel Money in what could be UK's biggest listing since 2021

• Fintech unicorn MNT Halan is set to IPO its Egypt unit in Egypt at a $1B valuation

• Fashion retail company Khaadi Pakistan plans to raise up to $30M in a Pakistan IPO

• Tencent-backed Chinese AI cloud infrastructure provider Infinigence AI is preparing for a Hong Kong listing

• Polish nuclear power firm company plans to IPO in 2028

Debt

• Broadcom will lend Anthropic $42B to lease its chips

• Ares and Apollo are leading a $6.5B debt package for Blackrock-backed telecom tower operator Phoenix Tower International

Funds / Secondaries

• Ares raised $4B for a debut secondaries structured solutions fund for private market GPs

• Oaktree raised $2B for a debut ABF fund

• BC Partners is looking to raise $2B for its fourth special opportunities fund

• Jake Paul's VC firm Anti Fund is seeking to raise $400M for its second fund

• European private markets investor Swen Capital Partners raised $265M for its seventh PE FOF

Crypto Sum Snapshot

• Cboe eyes VIX perps as exchanges move beyond crypto

• Illinois will postpone its 0.2% crypto tax by six months

• EU regulators say they need more powers to police crypto

• Binance questioned over operations in Europe without license

Crypto Sum compiles the most important stories on everything crypto. Read it here.

Exec's Picks

• Golub Capital didn't just invest in F2. It chose F2 to power its next $100B in assets. The partnership brings agentic AI into direct lending, putting proprietary deal history to work while keeping firm data protected. Schedule a demo with the F2 team.

• Dror Poleg shared an interesting piece on what the vocabulary around AI says about the direction of the technology.

Junior IR Associate - Quant Hedge Fund

We are working with one of the most renowned global quant hedge funds to help hire a motivated Sales and Relationship Management Associate to join their investor relations team in NYC.

This individual will play a critical role in cultivating and managing relationships with clients and prospects, supporting commercial initiatives, and contributing to the firm's business development efforts in a collegial, fast-paced environment.

The ideal candidate will have:

• 1-4 years of financial markets experience with a strong record of academic and professional achievement

• Well-developed written and verbal communication skills, proven project management skills, and keen attention to detail

• Ambitious, business-minded approach with a readiness to take initiative and grow professionally in a rigorous environment

• Familiarity with financial concepts and language

If this sounds like you, we'd love to get in touch. You can learn more, pass it along to friends, or apply below.

Meme Cleanser

Merch Store: Visit our merch store to shop our latest apparel, shoes, bags, accessories and more.

Litquidity Ventures: Accredited investors & qualified purchasers within the Litquidity community can gain access to alternative investments such as venture, late-stage growth, and private equity through Litquidity Ventures. Interested? Fill out this form.

☎️ Book a call with Lit: Want to pick Litquidity's brain on business advice, insights, or just chat to say what's up? Buy his time here.

Launch your own newsletter: Have great content ideas and looking to launch your own publication? We highly recommend beehiiv to get started.

*DISCLAIMER: Investment advice provided by Autopilot Advisers, LLC ("Autopilot"), an SEC-registered investment adviser. Past performance does not guarantee future results. Investing carries risks, including loss of principal. As always, be smart out there. Litquidity is compensated to promote AutoPilot. Compensation details available upon request.