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Japan Banks Forced to Merge
Rising rates are pushing Japan’s regional banks toward mergers for survival.
Ankit Sinha
November 25, 2025
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Your Daily Dose of Market & Career Clarity
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🎯 In this issue:
Banana Bits: Finance headlines that actually matter
Market Summary: Stocks jump as Fed officials fuel rate-cut hopes
What’s Ripe / Rotten: The tastiest and most disgusting stocks
Technical Trip: Interview Question with Moelis
Lesson from the Library: Understand why investors buy and sell private equity stakes — and how secondaries power liquidity in the PE world.
Deal Dispatch: M&A, IPOs, and other transactions
The Daily Poll: See how you stack up
Market Snapshot
📉 Banana Bits
Russia hit Kyiv with fresh strikes just hours after Trump expressed optimism on a Ukraine deal.
Australia’s RBA may revisit rate hikes in 2026, according to CBA’s Yeaman.
Rising rates are pushing Japan’s regional banks toward mergers for survival.
Trump signed the “Genesis Mission” order aimed at boosting AI-driven innovation.
Apple cut jobs across its sales division in a rare round of layoffs.
Michael Burry launched a newsletter to outline his AI-bubble warnings after closing his fund.
Market Recap
A Fed-led Rally
People say Don’t fight with the FED. Well, certainly, Wall Street will not fight the FED after their recent optimistic remarks. Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller fueled optimism on Monday after indicating support for a rate cut next month.
New York Fed President John Williams had a similar impact on the market on Friday after he said a near-term rate cut remains a possibility. San Francisco Fed President Mary Daly also backs a rate cut in December, she said in an interview on Monday.
Money markets are pricing in a more than 70% chance of a Fed rate cut in December. The Market cheered happily. The S&P 500 rose 1.5% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 ended Monday’s session more than 2% higher.
While the former notched its best day in six weeks, the latter posted its biggest gain since May. Some data that may move the market is the September retail figures, due Tuesday, which are expected to show a moderation as consumers remain squeezed by high prices.
What's Ripe
Inspire Medical Systems Inc. (INSP) 30.5%
INSP soared 31% to $117.29. The medical device maker, which specializes in treatments for obstructive sleep apnea, was upgraded to Buy from Hold at Stifel.
Analyst Jonathan Block raised his price target on the shares to $110 from $100.
Oscar Health Inc (OSCR) 22.3%
OSCR surged 22% following a report that said the White House was weighing a two-year extension to Affordable Care Act insurance subsidies.
What's Rotten
Grindr Inc. (GRND) 12.1%
GRND shares tumbled after a special board committee halted talks on a take-private bid from major shareholders Ray Zage and James Lu, who had offered $18 per share in cash.
The committee said ongoing uncertainty about financing led it to unanimously conclude that continued discussions are not in the company's or its investors' best interests. Zage and Lu together hold over 60% of Grindr’s outstanding shares.
Novo Nordisk A/S (NVO) 5.6%
NVO said its semaglutide pill failed to slow disease progression in patients with Alzheimer’s in two separate trials.
🧠 Technical Trip
Interview Q&A from Moelis
👉 Want 1-on-1 recruiting help from Moelis bankers & 2,000+ top mentors? Apply to WSO Academy
📚 Lesson from the Library
🎥 Private Equity Secondaries: The Market Behind the Market
Understand why investors buy and sell private equity stakes — and how secondaries power liquidity in the PE world.
🌟 WSO Academy Q4 Update
🎯 More Structured Technical Preparation
One of the most common questions we hear is: “What should I study first?” Next quarter, we plan to update our curriculum to make that answer clearer and more guided.
✅ Instead of just spending 5 hours per week studying, assignments will be organized by topic and sequenced in such a way that students build skills in the right order
✅ For each stage, assignments will link directly to the specific section of the students’ course, depending on their track, so that they know exactly what to study and when
✅ This removes guesswork and ensures the students are building a strong foundation before moving to advanced topics
🦈 Deal Dispatch
M&A, IPOs, And Other Notable Transactions
Tokyo Gas is planning to sell a Ginza building for about $191M.
Bain Capital is seeking $1.14B via a block trade in Coherent.
Amex GBT is exploring a potential sale with help from advisers.
Daily Mail’s parent struck a $650M deal to acquire The Telegraph.
Saudi’s AlKhorayef Petroleum is preparing for an IPO.
Thailand’s Bitkub crypto exchange is considering a Hong Kong IPO.
📊The Daily Poll
Rising rates pushing Japan’s regional banks into merger mode — what’s the signal? |
Previous Poll:
Claims slipped again; labor market looks…
Steady: 25.5% // Too tight: 46.8% // Cooling slowly: 27.7%
Banana Brain Teaser
Previous
Company P had 15% more employees in December than it had in January. If Company P had 460 employees in December, how many employees did it have in January?
Answer: 400
Today
If y = kx + 3; and k is constant. If y = 17 when x = 2, what is the value of y when x = 4?
He who lives by hope will die by despair—but a prudent investor lives by analysis.
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Happy Investing,
Chris, Vyom, Ankit, Mitchell, Fernanda, & Patrick