Good Morning! The Dow had its best day in over a year. Dealmaking is also back on Wall Street, with both Morgan Stanley and Bank of America reporting investment banking surges. Traders think the odds of a Fed rate cut by September are 100%, and gold is heading for record highs, too. Tesla is going on a hiring spree after mass layoffs, and Biden wants to propose capping national rent increases at 5%. Plus how running changes your brain, and the science behind why some people are annoying. 

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_{SQUEEZ OF THE DAY}

Musk: Adios California, Hello Texas

Elon Musk has had it with California. He is relocating the headquarters of two of his companies, X and SpaceX, from California to Texas.

Musk blames it on a new law passed in California earlier this week, which prevents schools from notifying parents about a child's change in gender identity. Given Musk's estranged relationship with his transgender daughter, he likely takes this law personally.

“I did make it clear to Governor Newsom about a year ago that laws of this nature would force families and companies to leave California to protect their children,” Musk added.

SpaceX will be headquartered in Starbase, TX which is near Brownsville (southeast Texas). Musk calls Starbase the ‘gateway to Mars’ and is part of his ambition to help colonize the planet.

And X will join Tesla and move its headquarters to Austin. Apparently, Tesla’s headquarters there is really just a symbol, with a lot of senior management still in California. X might follow a similar pattern for the time being.

Takeaway: Elon Musk is a controversial figure, and critics may argue that this move is merely an attempt to avoid California's high taxes. Nonetheless, it highlights Musk's growing interest in Texas. He infamously tried moving his Tesla pay fight to a Texas court, in what would have been one of the first major companies to leave the Delaware court system. Historically, Texas has not been a business hub like New York or California, but Musk, one of the most influential businesspeople of our time, has the potential to change that.

_{PRESENTED BY BILL}

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_HEADLINES

Top Reads

• Morgan Stanley’s investment banking surge solidifies Wall Street’s deal-making revival (YF)

• Biden to propose capping national rent increases at 5% (Axios)

• The true bull market may finally be waking up (YF)

• Bank of America leans on Wall Street as high rates pose challenges to Main Street operations (YF)

• Traders see the odds of a Fed rate cut by September at 100% (CNBC)

• Bitcoin is cementing legitimate status on Wall Street (YF)

• Gold heads for record high as Fed is poised to cut rates (CNBC)

• Tesla on hiring spree after mass layoffs (YF)

• How Wiz went from zero to $23B in four years (WSJ)

• Deutsche Bank criticized for financial reporting error (CNBC)

_{CAPITAL PULSE}

Markets Rundown

Stocks closed higher and traders bet on rate cuts as Dow posts best day in over a year.

Movers & Shakers

• (+) Shopify ($SHOP) +9%after an upgrade by Bank of America.

• (+) Match Group ($MTCH) +7% after an activist investor built a large stake in the company.

• (–) Charles Schwab ($SCHW) -10% after CEO announces plan to shrink the bank’s size.

Private Dealmaking

• KBR bought LinQuest, a space tech provider, for $737 million

• Cardurion Pharmaceuticals, a heart failure therapies developer, raised $260 million

• CatalYm, an oncology biotech, raised $150 million

• Asceneuron, a neuroscience biotech, raised $100 million

• Huma, a digital health platform, raised $80 million

• ArkeaBio, a livestock methane emissions vaccine developer, raised $26.5 million

For more PE, VC & M&A deals, subscribe to our Buysiders newsletter.

_{BOOK OF THE DAY}

Crash Landing

It was the ultimate test for CEOs, and almost none of them saw it coming. In early March 2020, with the Dow Jones flirting with 30,000, the world’s biggest companies were riding an eleven-year economic high. By the end of the month, millions were out of work, iconic firms were begging for bailouts, and countless small businesses were in freefall. Slick consulting teams and country-club connections were suddenly of little use: Business leaders were fumbling in the dark, tossing out long-term strategy and making decisions on the fly—decisions that, they hoped, might just save them.

In Crash Landing, award-winning business journalist Liz Hoffman shows how the pandemic set the economy on fire—but if you look closely, the tinder was already there. After the global financial crisis in 2008, corporate leaders embraced cheap debt and growth at all costs. Wages flatlined. Millions were pushed into the gig economy. Companies crammed workers into offices, and airlines did the same with planes. Wall Street cheered on this relentless march toward efficiency, overlooking the collateral damage and the risks sowed in the process.

Based on astonishing access inside some of the world’s biggest and most iconic companies, Crash Landing is a kaleidoscopic account of the most remarkable period in modern economic history, revealing—through gripping, fly-on-the-wall reporting—how CEOs battled an economic catastrophe for which there was no playbook: among them, Airbnb’s Brian Chesky, blindsided by a virus in the middle of a high-stakes effort to go public; American Airlines’ Doug Parker, shuttling between K Street and the White House, determined to secure a multibillion-dollar bailout; and Ford’s Jim Hackett, as his assembly lines went from building cars to churning out ventilators.

“A kaleidoscopic account of the financial carnage of the pandemic, revealing the fear, grit, and gambles that drove the economy’s winners and losers.”

_{DAILY VISUAL}

Tesla Used Car Prices Have Fallen Significantly

_{PRESENTED BY MINDGRASP AI}

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_{DAILY ACUMEN}

Mindset

Your mindset is the lens through which you view the world. It colors every experience, every interaction.

A fixed mindset sees abilities as static; a growth mindset sees potential for development.

Which one are you cultivating?

Carol Dweck's research shows that people with a growth mindset achieve more than those with a fixed mindset.

They embrace challenges, persist in the face of setbacks, and see effort as the path to mastery.

Cultivate a growth mindset. View failures as learning opportunities. Embrace challenges as chances to grow.

Remember, whether you think you can or you can't, you're right.

_{ENLIGHTENMENT}

Short Squeez Picks

• How running changes your brain

• The magic of quiet compounding

• Mastering the mindset of high performers

• The science of why some people are annoying

• How Gen AI can make work more fulfilling 

_{MEME-A-PALOOZA}

Memes of the Day