Last 3 weeks we saw a bifurcation in this market. Tech, not too hot. Non-tech doing great. Tech bounced today.

Key Events

👉 TikTok preps for legal battle against US

The House passes divest-or-ban bill 360 to 58.

This could be the first full blown social media ban by the US government.

The Senate will vote on the bill this week and Joe Biden is on board with signing.

ByteDance continues to argue that “TikTok is an independent platform, with its own leadership team.”

On to the Senate for now.

👉Express, retail clothing store, files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy

Sales have fallen over the last few years while debt has stacked up and mall leases have become costlier.

While operations will continue as normal, 95 Express stores out of 553 total stores will close and all UpWest stores.

Chapter 11 bankruptcy does not mean that the Company will liquidate its assets and cease operations. Rather, it will go into bankruptcy court in hopes of renegotiating its capital structure with debt holders in order to restructure its balance sheet and operations to emerge as an economically viable company post-bankruptcy. Or at least, that’s the goal.

Why? Because companies of this size are often worth more alive than dead.

The goal of the bankruptcy is to enter a sale process for their retail stores and operations to the investor groups such as WHP, Simon Property Group and Brookfield Properties.

👉 Earnings Week Ahead

40% of the S&P 500 scheduled to report earnings this week.

Tuesday: GE Aerospace (post-spinoff), GM earnings (2nd cheapest non-financial in S&P 500, big buyback), Spotify, Tesla

Wednesday: Boeing (low plane production and CEO succession), Chipotle, Meta (watching earnings guidance). No Fedspeak this week.

Thursday: Caterpillar, Microsoft (AI integration to all PCs), Alphabet (ad-based business model, new AI product)

Friday: watching the Personal Consumption Expenditure index (PCE) release which gives us a read on inflation. Numbers come in high, not great for stocks. Come in low, good news for stocks. Chevron + ExxonMobil.

Mergers & Acquisitions

Salesforce acquisition talks with Informatica have reportedly fallen through over low-ball price. Informatica down ~10%.

Matterport, 3D camera scanning for real estate, to be acquired by CoStar Group, commercial and residential real estate analytics, in cash and stock transaction valued at $1.6B, or a ~216% premium.

Private Equity

Vista Outdoor confirmed discussions with MNC Capital, which made an unsolicited indication of interest. It expects MNC to up their bid.

Initial Public Offerings

Viking Holdings, a TPG-backed cruise operator, set IPO terms with expected valuation ~$10.2B.

ShipBob, an e-commerce logistics company.