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Welcome to The Bull Investor.

YOU'RE IN

You’re in. Welcome to The Bull Investor.

I’m Anthony Buckley. I spent over a decade as a financial analyst, filtering complex market data for private clients. My job was simple: separate the signal from the noise.

That is exactly what I do here.

Inside, you will find data-driven analysis of the Fed, earnings, and macro trends—without the academic fluff. I break down global shifts in the Economy, Tech, and Policy to show exactly how they impact your portfolio, giving you the actionable context needed to make informed decisions.

This is for anyone - from seasoned pros to ambitious beginners who wants to build wealth without wasting hours on ticker tapes.

Glad to have you on board.

Let’s dive in.

Market Movers

  • US stocks slipped yesterday as the AI and crypto selloff continued to weigh on sentiment. All three major indexes snapped their five-day win streaks.
  • India's Nifty 50 hit an all-time high, now up 11% year-to-date.
  • Global bonds took a hit after hawkish commentary from the Bank of Japan.
    • Japan's 10-year yield hit 1.88%, the highest since 2008.
    • The US 10-year yield jumped 10 basis points, the biggest daily move in a month.
  • Silver continues to shine, hitting a fresh high.
  • Gasoline prices have dropped to a four-year low.
  • Bitcoin had its worst day since March, dragging sentiment down with it.

Earnings Call

  • What’s on our watchlist this week:
    • Tuesday: CrowdStrike, American Eagle
    • Wednesday: Salesforce, Macy's, Dollar Tree
    • Thursday: TD Bank Group, Dollar General, Docusign
    • Friday: Victoria's Secret
  • See the full calendar here.

Prediction Markets

  • Traders are betting heavily on who Trump will pick to succeed Jerome Powell.
  • Place your bets on the next Fed Chair on Polymarket.

Headline Hunt

  • The Bank of Japan hinted strongly at an upcoming rate hike. (BBG)
  • US manufacturing contracted for the ninth straight month as tariff headwinds bite. (RT)
  • The Fed raised concerns about risks in the commercial real estate sector. (BBG)
  • Blackstone, Apollo, and KKR agreed to the Bank of England's private credit stress test. (FT)
  • The Big 3 consulting firms froze starting salaries again as AI threatens their pyramid model. (FT)
  • Junk borrowers are rushing for a $27B year-end funding spree. (BBG)
  • An AI bond deluge is pushing investors to seek shelter in mortgage-backed securities. (BBG)
  • Secondaries fundraising smashed 2024 records in just three quarters. (PB)
  • Limited Partners are expanding into more diverse secondaries strategies. (PEI)
  • Quant traders are on track for record revenue this year. (BBG)
  • Citadel's flagship fund is up 8.3% year-to-date. (RT)
  • Costco joined other companies suing for refunds if Trump's tariffs get struck down. (BBG)
  • Switzerland filed criminal charges against UBS and Credit Suisse. (WSJ)
  • JPMorgan doubled its Swiss business by targeting wealthy clients. (RT)
  • Evercore poached JPMorgan's global co-head of healthcare investment banking. (BBG)
  • A former Macquarie banker was charged in the Cum-Ex tax scandal. (BBG)
  • Apple's head of AI, John Giannandrea, is stepping down. (BBG)
  • Seven states asked Buy Now, Pay Later firms to share their lending practices. (WSJ)
  • India's GDP grew 8.2% year-over-year in the third quarter. (FT)
  • NYC has emerged as the epicenter of office-to-residential conversions. (WSJ)
  • Steve Cohen won approval to operate a casino in New York City. (BBG)
  • Trump pardoned private equity fraudster David Gentile. (BBG)

Dealmaking

M&A / Investments

  • Warner Bros. Discovery is fielding second-round bids, including offers from Netflix and an Apollo-backed group.
  • BHP offered $53B in its now-aborted takeover bid for Anglo American.
  • Gunvor's CEO will step down and sell his stake to management; the firm was valued at $6.5B.
  • EQT and CVC scrapped their $3.4B bid for Australian broker AUB.
  • Blackstone is considering abandoning its $2.9B bid for Big Yellow Group.
  • Goldman Sachs agreed to buy ETF issuer Innovator Capital Management for $2B.
  • Somnigroup offered to buy Leggett & Platt for $1.63B.
  • CVC agreed to buy a majority stake in UK green-power developer Low Carbon for $1.3B.
  • Targa Resources agreed to buy Stakeholder Midstream for $1.25B.
  • Realty Income agreed to buy a preferred stake in CityCenter Las Vegas from Blackstone for $800M.
  • OpenAI bought a stake in Thrive Holdings to speed up enterprise AI adoption.
  • Nestlé is weighing the sale of Blue Bottle Coffee.
  • Katjes agreed to buy UK snack brand Graze from Unilever.
  • Thyssenkrupp's steel unit agreed to a restructuring, potentially paving the way for a sale.
  • WTW acquired PE secondaries firm FlowStone Partners.

VC Funding

  • Black Forest Labs raised $300M at a $3.25B valuation, co-led by Salesforce Ventures.
  • Range raised a $60M Series C led by Scale Venture Partners.
  • Norm Ai raised $50M from Blackstone.
  • Morphocell Technologies raised a $50M Series A extension.
  • Sionic AI raised an $18M Series A.
  • Coverbase raised a $16.5M Series A led by Canapi Ventures.
  • Joy Bank raised a $14M Series A.
  • Onton raised a $7.5M seed round led by Footwork.

IPO Watch

  • Barrick Mining is exploring an IPO of its North American gold assets, potentially valued at $60B.
  • Nvidia bought a 2.6% stake in Synopsys for $2B.
  • Strategy raised $1.44B in a stock sale to create a 'dollar reserve'.
  • Temasek-backed Atomberg is considering a $200M India IPO.
  • India is seeking to sell a 6% stake in the Bank of Maharashtra.

SPAC Deals

  • Hong Kong-based First Digital plans to merge with CSLM Digital Asset Acquisition Corp III.

Debt Markets

  • Merck is selling $8B in bonds to fund its acquisition of Cidara Therapeutics.
  • Iren is seeking to sell $2B of convertible bonds.
  • KKR-backed Avida Finans sold its first significant risk transfer (SRT) linked to a $300M portfolio.

Bankruptcy Watch

  • Vanke asked bondholders to wait one year for repayment.
  • Ukraine launched an exchange of warrants for bonds to restructure $3.2B of debt.
  • Carlyle sold a troubled $190M loan it provided to iRobot.

Fresh Capital

  • Edizione launched private markets firm 21 Next with $3.5B AUM.
  • SecondQuarter Ventures is seeking $2.6B for its third fund.
  • Unigestion raised $2B for its sixth secondaries fund.
  • Axcel raised $533M for its first lower middle-market fund.
  • Somerset Indus Capital Partners is seeking $250M for its third fund.
  • Indico Capital Partners is seeking $145M for its sixth fund.

Crypto Corner

  • Naver and Dunamu's $13B deal minted two new Korean billionaires.
  • The crypto selloff wiped out $1B in levered bets.
  • Retail traders got hit hard as Strategy ETFs plunged 80%.
  • Regulators are working on new stablecoin rules.
  • Vanguard will allow crypto ETFs on its platform.

Today’s Meme Pick

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