JPM News & Events

The major averages were broadly higher near noon to start the week following last week's declines. Amid continued conflict in the Middle East and rising energy prices, President Trump said the U.S. is in "serious discussions" with Iran to end its military operations. However, he added that if a peace deal is not reached "shortly" and the Strait of Hormuz is not reopened, the U.S. will "conclude our lovely 'stay' in Iran by blowing up and completely obliterating all of their Electric Generating Plants, Oil Wells and Kharg Island (and possibly all desalinization plants!), which we have purposefully not yet 'touched.'" Following the comments, oil prices are rising once again past the $100 per barrel mark.Get caught up quickly on the top news and calls moving stocks with these five Top Five lists.1. STOCK NEWS:SyscoJetro Restaurant Depot for a total enterprise value of $29.1BUberglobal chauffeur service leader BlacklaneAuriniaKezar Life Sciencesfor $6.955 per share in cash plus a non-transferable contingent value rightSpirewill sell itsto Boardwalk Pipelines for $215M in cashTJX'sboard raised itsand said it plans $2.5B-$2.75B of share repurchases for FY272. WALL STREET CALLS:CrowdStriketo Outperform from Peer Perform at Wolfe ResearchExpediato Buy from Hold at JefferiesInstacartto Buy from Hold at JefferiesDole, Nomad Foodsto Hold at Deutsche BankStarbuckswith an Underperform at BNP Paribas3. AROUND THE WEB:In a recently published report, Morpheus Research says that MakeMyTrip, a $3.5B online travel agency that is sometimes referred to as the "Booking.com of India" with 50% of the Indian OTA market, "openly defies regulators, scams customers, and pads profits through accounting tricksBanks led by JPMorganare dealing with pushback related to the terms of a $7.2B debt deal to fund Clayton, Dubilier & Rice's takeover of Sealed Air, Bloomberg reportsYouTubeemployees have admitted their goal was "viewer addiction" and shut down proposed safety tools for kids since they did not provide a sufficient return on investment, NY Post saysIQM Quantum Computers has secured $57.64M in venture financing from funds managed by BlackRockto accelerate growth, Reuters saysAn analysis of billions of anonymized credit card transactions by consumer transaction analysis company Indagari indicates that Claude is seeing record growth in paid subscribers, with subscriptions more than doubling this year according to Anthropic, TechCrunch says4. MOVERS:Compass Diversifiedincreases after announcing it willbusiness to Archer for $292.5MiQiyigains in New York afteron HKEXViridiandeclines after announcing results from its REVEAL-1 phase 3Fermilower afterBoston Scientificfalls after Raymond Jamesits rating on the stock to Outperform from Strong Buy5. EARNINGS/GUIDANCE:Alaska AirUSA Rare Earth, with CEO Barbara Humpton commenting, "2025 was the year that USA Rare Earth set the foundation to execute our integrated rare earth growth strategy"Spirefor FY27Neumora Therapeutics, with EPS missing consensusCBAK Energy Technology, with revenue higher year-over-yearINDEXES:Near midday, the Dow was up 0.88%, or 395.42, to 45,562.06, the Nasdaq was up 0.29%, or 60.40, to 21,008.76, and the S&P 500 was up 0.48%, or 30.52, to 6,399.37.

Banks led by JPMorgan (JPM) are dealing with pushback related to the terms of a $7.2B debt deal to fund Clayton, Dubilier & Rice's takeover of Sealed Air (SEE), Katherine Schwartz, Gowri Gurumurthy, and Jeannine Amodeo of Bloomberg reports, citing people familiar with the matter. Potential buyers of $2.45B of Sealed Air's bonds and $4.7B of loans have raised concerns about some of the provisions, such as a clause that would give CD&R the option to spin off either of Sealed Air's food or protective reporting units, the sources added.

As part of a historic funding round, OpenAI said it is raising an additional $10B. Meanwhile, Nvidia-backed Reflection is reportedly in talks to secure $2.5B in funds at a $25B valuation.This week's private company news:Nvidiabacked startup Reflection is in discussions to raise $2.5B at a valuation of $25B, Berber Jin and Kate Clark of The Wall Street Journal, citing people familiar with the matter. The company is looking to build a network of "open source" AI models, which can be used and repurposed by businesses, labs, and universities as needed. JPMorgan Chaseis in talks to participate in the round, the sources added.AMD-backed Vultr, one of the oldest independent cloud providers, is seeking to raise at least $1B in new capital so it can compete with a growing list of startups scrambling for cash to meet the surging demand for AI computing power, The Information's Miles Kruppa, Anissa Gardizy and Valida Pau.Some of the biggest capital raises by private companies this week include:OpenAI– The company said it is raising $10B from investors as part of its historic funding round. Publicly traded companies in the space include Nvidia, Microsoft, and Alphabet.Shield AI– The company announced it is raising $1.5B in Series G funding at a $12.7B post-money valuation and $500M in fixed-return preferred equity financing. The Series G is led by Advent International and co-led by the Strategic Investment Group of JPMorganChase'sSecurity and Resiliency Initiative, with participation from existing investors Snowpoint Ventures, Innovation X Advisors, Riot Ventures, Disruptive, Apandion, and others. A portion of the proceeds will help fund the company's planned acquisition of Aechelon Technology, a Sagewind Capital portfolio company. Publicly traded companies in the space include AeroVironment, Kratos Defense, and Lockheed Martin.Convene Hospitality Group– The global hospitality platform at the intersection of corporate conferences, meetings and experiential events announced it secured $230M in strategic growth capital. The latest funding is provided by new lender, TPG, as well as an additional equity investment from current shareholders, including Ares funds. Publicly traded companies in the space include CBRE Groupand Airbnb.Halter– The global agtech company said it raised $220M in Series E funding at a $2B valuation. Publicly traded companies in the space include Deere, Trimble, and AGCO.Oasis Security– The company announced it raised $120M in a Series B round led by Craft Ventures. Publicly traded companies in the space include CyberArk, Okta, and Zscaler.Unicorns to watch this week:Positron– The AI semiconductor startup, now valued at $1B after a $230M Series B, is riding the AI‑hardware wave with custom chips. Publicly traded companies in the space include Nvidia, AMD, and Intel.Skyryse– The semi‑automated flight operating systems, valued at $1.1B after a $300M Series C, is major player in autonomous aviation infrastructure. Publicly traded companies in the space include Garmin, Honeywell, and Textron.TRM Labs– The blockchain intelligence and analytics platform used by crypto firms and regulators to investigate fraud and financial crime is valued at approximately $1B. Publicly traded companies in the space include Coinbase, Block, and Marathon Digital.Midi Health– Valued at about $1B, the virtual care platform focused on menopausal and midlife women's health has recently raised a $100M Series D. Publicly traded companies in the space include Teladoc Health, Hims & Hers, and CVS Health.Lunar Energy– The maker of home battery systems enabling residential energy storage and grid independence closed a $102M Series D at a valuation of $1B. Publicly traded companies in the space include Tesla, Enphase Energy, and SolarEdge.IPOs to watch:Pershing Square USA, or PSUS- The closed end investment company managed by Pershing Square Capital Management, L.P., announced that it has publicly filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission a registration statement on Form N-2 relating to a proposed initial public offering of its common shares of beneficial interest. Concurrently with the filing of the N-2 Registration Statement, Pershing Square Inc., the prospective parent company of PSCM, publicly filed a registration statement on Form S-1 with the SEC relating to a proposed initial public offering of its common stock.Student Living EduVation– The company filed with the SEC for an initial public offering by the company of 3.75M ordinary shares. The company stated, "We are offering 3,750,000 Ordinary Shares on a firm commitment basis. We anticipate that Offering price of the Ordinary Shares will be between $4.00 and $6.00 per Ordinary Share. The Resale Shareholders are also offering 5,880,000 Ordinary Shares to be sold pursuant to the Resale Prospectus."Liftoff Mobile– The company announced that it has confidentially submitted a draft registration statement on Form S-1 with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission relating to the proposed initial public offering of its common stock. The total number of shares to be offered and the price range for the proposed offering have not yet been determined. The offering is subject to market and other conditions and the completion of the SEC's review process.Cerebras Systems– The AI chipmaker Systems has picked Morgan Stanley to lead its initial public offering, which could raise about $2B in a listing as soon as April, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg's Ryan Gould, Bailey Lipschultz and Anthony Hughes. Cerebras, which withdrew its previous IPO registration in October, has filed fresh paperwork for an IPO and is set to meet with analysts and prospective investors this month, the report added.OpenAI– The company is accelerating its plans for a public listing as rivalry with Anthropic intensifies, now planning on listing in Q4 of this year, Berber Jin, Corrie Driebusch, and Kate Clark of The Wall Street Journal. OpenAI is holding discussions with Wall Street banks about a potential initial public offering and has hired several executives to oversee its finance team, sources told the Journal.SpaceX- Elon Musk's SpaceX is said to be weighing a confidential IPO filing as soon as March and could seek a valuation over $1.75 trillion in the offering, sources told Bloomberg. The company is moving forward with plans for the biggest-ever listing and expects to submit its draft IPO registration to the Securities and Exchange Commission in March, which would keep it on track for a June listing, the sources are reported to have said. SpaceX could seek a valuation in the IPO of more than $1.75 trillion, some of the sources are said to have added."Private Markets" is The Fly's recurring series of stories on the latest moves in the private sector, largest unicorn companies and initial public offerings to watch. Fly subscribers, add $PRIVATE to your portfolio for alerts on breaking news in the startup and venture capital space.