Silver banana goes to…

Your Daily Dose of Market & Career Clarity

📬 Delivered to 150,000+ ambitious readers

🎯 In this issue:

• Banana Bits: Finance headlines that actually matter

• Market Summary: Stocks sustained moderate losses on Monday

• What’s Ripe / Rotten: The tastiest and most disgusting stocks 

• Technical Trip: Interview Q&A from Houlihan Lokey

• Deal Dispatch: M&A, IPOs, and other transactions 

• The Daily Poll: See how you stack up

Market Snapshot

📉 Banana Bits

• Donald Trump announced he plans to remove Fed Governor Lisa Cook, citing mortgage fraud allegations. 

• U.S treasuries fell ahead of a series of government bond auctions.

• The U.S dollar continues to fall with the announcement of the firing of Lisa Cook.

• Ether (ETH), a popular cr*ptocurrency, has hit all-time highs, exceeding the 2021 bull market.

• There are now more ETFs than individual stocks on the U.S markets.

• U.S inflation is continually growing past the Fed’s target.

• The rally of big tech is seemingly losing steam as it leads to losses today.

• Donald Trump is set to impose tariffs on advanced technology and semiconductors as a result of digital service taxes hitting U.S tech companies.

• Spirit Airlines is looking into a repeat restructuring as a result of being on shaky financial ground.

• A historic change in immigration is rapidly changing the job market. 

• John Williams, the Fed President of New York, says the U.S economy’s neutral interest rate may not be much different from before the pandemic.  

Market Recap

Trump Vs The Fed

Stocks retreated as U.S President Donald Trump announced that he would be firing Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook as a result of citing mortgage fraud allegations in his Truth Social post. 

This announcement came after the U.S Department of Justice said they were going to investigate Lisa Cook after allegations of mortgage fraud from Bill Pulte, a Federal Housing Finance Agency Director.

After Trump made this announcement, the dollar continued to drop. 

This move by President Donald Trump questions the independence of the Federal Reserve from the United States Government, which could cause the Fed to lose some of its credibility, which is of immense importance, for obvious reasons. 

When Lisa Cook was initially accused on August 20th, she announced that she “had no intention of being bullied to step down from my position because of some questions raised about a tweet.”

This threat to the independence of the Fed could cause markets to lose steam, especially if Trump takes any action against other members of the Fed. 

What's Ripe

Sasol Limited (SSL) 11.0%

• Sasol’s stock skyrocketed yesterday after they announced earnings and beat revenue and EPS expectations. 

• The chemicals and energy company emphasized coal-based production and expansion of renewables in their message to shareholders.  

Perimeter Solutions Inc. (PRM) 8.9%

• Perimeter’s stock surged yesterday after beating both revenue and EPS expectations, similar to Sasol. 

• The chemicals and services company posted an EPS of $0.03, compared to an estimated $-0.11, and revenue rose 22% YoY.

What's Rotten

Newegg Commerce, Inc. (NEGG) 15.6%

• Newegg’s stock fell sharply yesterday after investors started to lose confidence ahead of earnings.

• Despite the short-term losses, Newegg is still above its long-term moving average. 

Keurig Dr Pepper Inc. (KDP) 11.5%

• KDP’s stock plunged after they announced a strategic acquisition of JDE Peet’s, the parent company of Peet’s Coffee. 

• This deal will be financed through all cash at a $18.2 billion transaction value. 

🧠 Technical Trip

Interview Q&A from Houlihan Lokey

👉 Want 1-on-1 recruiting help from Houlihan Lokey bankers & 2,000+ top mentors? Apply to WSO Academy

🦈 Deal Dispatch

M&A, IPOs, And Other Notable Transactions

• Keurig Dr Pepper is set to acquire JDE Peet’s for $18.2 billion in cash.

• Providence Equity Partners acquired Modern Campus, a provider of student lifecycle management software.

• Thoma Bravo is in advanced talks to buy Verint Systems for approximately $2 billion.

• LB Pharmaceuticals is planning to go public on the NASDAQ and has already raised over $135 million.

• Pattern Group is filing for an IPO, who are estimated to raise $500 million.

• Kohlberg & Co. is looking to sell DecoPac, a supplier of cake. 

• Crescent Energy is set to acquire Vital Energy for $733 million in an all-stock deal. 

• Tempus AI is set to acquire digital pathology developer Paige for $81 million.

📊The Daily Poll

Previous Poll:

Next breakout star?

Mega-cap tech: 28.6% // Small-caps: 39.7% // Defensives: 22.2% // Still cash: 9.5%

Student Success Corner

👉 Are you next? Find out with WSO Academy

Banana Brain Teaser

Previous

In the first week of the year, Nancy saved $1. In each of the next 51 weeks, she saved $1 more than she had saved in the previous week. What was the total amount that Nancy saved during the 52 weeks?

Answer: $1,378

Today

If (4 - x)/(2 + x) = x, what is the value of x^ 2 + 3x - 4?

How Would You Rate Today's Peel?

Happy Investing,
Chris, Vyom, Ankit, Colin, & Patrick

ADVERTISE // WSO ALPHA // ACADEMY // COURSES // LEGAL