Good afternoon,
It feels like the mid-2000s all over again, and not just because low-rise jeans are back. Wall Street CEO pay has officially climbed back to 2006 highs, with banking executives seeing massive compensation bumps. Meanwhile, Goldman Sachs is dealing with a headache as their top lawyer resigned over ties to Jeffrey Epstein, proving that past associations are still shaking up the C-suite.
The market mood is messy. Stocks finished mixed on Friday as traders tried to balance a decent inflation reading against growing fears that the AI spending boom might be hitting a wall. The S&P slipped for a second straight week, and the Dollar has quietly dropped to four-year lows.
Getting started.
The Pulse
As of 2/13/2026 market close.
Markets
US markets were closed yesterday for Presidents' Day.
US stocks ended mixed Friday as investors weighed CPI data against AI jitters.
Dollar is down 1.3% this year to four-year lows after a 9% slide last year.
Earnings
Moderna beat expectations for Q4 despite fading Covid vaccine demand, though they are facing a regulatory hurdle with their flu shot.
This week's lineup:
Today: EQT, eToro
Wednesday: Figma, DoorDash
Thursday: Walmart, Klarna, Wayfair
See the full calendar here.
Prediction Markets
Duration depends on compromise. (Polymarket)
Headline Hunt
Japan GDP grew 0.1% in Q4 (CNBC).
Goldman's top lawyer Kathy Ruemmler resigned over Epstein connections (WSJ).
Lower valuations and delayed deals are deflating US IPO hopes (BBG).
Hedge funds just bought the most Asian stocks in a decade (BBG).
China's bull market is stumbling as earnings look weak (BBG).
Fund managers are more bearish on the dollar than they have been in ten years (FT).
Wall Street CEO pay has hit highs not seen since 2006 (BBG).
PE execs are trying to calm nerves as the software selloff hits their portfolios (RT).
Big Tech valuations are dropping billions on AI spending fears (RT).
Citadel's employee compensation ate into their $5.3B gains (BBG).
The US DOD and Anthropic are arguing over how to use Claude (TC).
Job hunters are now paying to get recruited (WSJ).
The Deal Room
M&A / Investments
Warner Bros. Discovery is looking to restart talks with Paramount Skydance after a hostile $108B amended offer.
Aberdeen plans to vote against the $9.3B take-private of InPost by Advent and FedEx over price.
Savvy Games is close to buying ByteDance's gaming unit Moonton for over $6B.
Telkom Indonesia is trying again to sell a data center stake at a $1.5B valuation.
Venture Flow
Neysa raised $1.2B with backing from Blackstone and others.
IPO / Direct Listings / Issuances / Block Trades
SpaceX is eyeing a dual-class structure for its planned $50B IPO.
DayOne Data Centers picked banks for a US IPO looking to raise $5B.
Maya is considering a US IPO raising up to $1B.
The Debt Desk
Bank of America and Goldman Sachs are selling $4.7B of debt for the Carlyle/BASF deal.
Fresh Capital
Morgan Stanley Investment Management is considering a $500M continuation vehicle for India assets.
Capza raised $1.7B for a new private credit fund.
Crypto
Bitcoin bounced to $70,000 on cooling inflation after an $8.7B wipeout, though the charts remain bearish.
Global crypto ETPs saw $3.7B in outflows over the last month, with BTC ETFs bleeding another $410M recently.
Metaplanet posted a $619M net loss driven by its bitcoin valuation.
The CEO of a bitcoin trading firm was sentenced to 20 years for a $200M Ponzi scheme.
Tomasz Stanczak stepped down from the Ethereum Foundation.
OKX snagged a European license.
Trump Media filed to launch Truth Social ETFs.
Brazil proposed a national Bitcoin reserve.
Grayscale filed to convert its AAVE trust into an ETF.
The EU banned all crypto transactions with Russian entities.
X launched cashtags for in-timeline crypto trading.
Recommended Reading
With 3 million more Epstein documents released, it is a good time to revisit Bloomberg's deep dive into his financial web. They mapped out the connections across Wall Street—from hedge funds to brokerages and billionaires. It’s a heavy read, but necessary context.
Today’s Meme Pick
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