Bitcoin Buzz, Bear Alerts & Billion-Dollar Deals

Good Morning,

Markets rebound amid trade uncertainty, RBNZ holds OCR at 3.25%, bond markets flash red, Bitcoin tipped to hit $US200k, Israel threatens Syria escalation, Apple commits $500m to rare-earths, Huntington signs $1.9b Veritex deal, Google pays $2.4b for Windsurf tech, Ryman halts trading for cap raise, bear attacks trigger emergency in Japan

Let's jump in.

Before The Bell

Markets

• Harbour investment outlook: Markets rebound amid trade uncertainty (GR)

• RBNZ leaves OCR on hold at 3.25% (NBR)

• Bond markets are flashing red again. Your portfolio’s not ready (AFR)

• Bitcoin tipped to climb as high as $US200k this year as inflows surge (AFR) 

News Summary

• Israel threatens to escalate involvement in Syria as a ceasefire collapses (Stuff)

• Immigrant advisor banned for migrant rip-off’s (Stuff)

• Most terrifying teenager in Australia lands first round KO (9 News)

• Damage caused by Melbourne train derailment explained (9 News)

• Humpback whale spotted in Sydney Harbour (9 News)

• At least 20 killed in crush at Gaza aid point (Guardian)

• Hunter missing in Japan as spate of bear attacks triggers emergency to be declared in northern town (Guardian)

• US house speaker Mike Johnson calls for release of Epstein files amid backlash (Guardian)

• Apple commits $500Million for rare-earth magnets from US supplier (WSJ)

Deal Flow

Investments / M&A

• Huntington Bancshares signs $1.9 Billion deal for rival Veritex in Texas push (RT)

• Google to pay $2.4 billion in deal to license tech of Windsurf, WSJ reports (RT)

• Australia's Johns Lyng agrees to $725 million buyout, shares soar (RT)

• Samsung to buy US healthcare services company Xealth (RT)

• Ireland's Dalata Hotel Group agrees to 1.4 billion euro Scandinavian takeover (RT)

• SLB's ChampionX deal clears final hurdle with UK approval (RT)

VC & Fundraising

• US AI start-ups see funding surge while more VC funds struggle to raise, data shows (RT)

Equity Raises

• Ryman Healthcare in trading halt ahead of capital raising (RNZ) 

Daily Picks

• OpenAI’s 3 Billion dollar deal with AI coding startup Windsurf collapses, as Google swoops in for licensing deal (Fortune)

• Officer filmed on stripper pole found to have slept with woman while on duty (Stuff)

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