Wall Street Weekly: July 10, 2026 Close

SK Hynix gave the July 3-10 Friday-close window its cleanest primary-market print: the Korean memory maker priced 177.9 million Nasdaq ADS at $149, raised about $26.5 billion, and opened at $170 before closing its first U.S. session at $168.01. 1 2 The listing was an ADR uplisting rather than a traditional IPO, but it still set the largest-ever foreign-company U.S. listing record and gave U.S. investors a liquid large-cap route into high-bandwidth memory exposure. 2

The broader read-through was selective rather than uniformly bullish. SPCX entered the Nasdaq-100 on July 7 and finished July 10 at $145.30 after touching a 52-week intraday low of $145.07, while Bending Spoons closed July 10 at $32.91 after its July 1 IPO pop. 3 4 5 In deal work, Baker Hughes / Chart cleared the EU with remedies, Solstice announced a $14.5 billion Element Solutions acquisition, and Carl Icahn tried to top Fertitta's Caesars bid with a $33-per-share proposal before the go-shop deadline. 6 7 8

The compliance file also moved. The CFTC stayed CME Group's self-certified 24/7 crude oil futures contract on July 9, and major banks tightened employee rules around prediction-market trading. 9 10 Financing stayed large-cap and AI-heavy: Amazon launched a $25 billion eight-part bond sale, Blue Origin raised about $10 billion at a $130 billion valuation, and Together AI raised an $800 million Series C at an $8.3 billion valuation. 11 12 13

IPOs and SPACs

SK Hynix is the cleanest data point for buy-side equity demand. The company priced its ADS at a 2.7% premium to the average Seoul price over the prior three trading sessions, reported more than seven-times oversubscription, and said proceeds would support new plants and expanded HBM manufacturing capacity. 2 Great Hill Capital chairman Thomas Hayes told Reuters, "Global semiconductors is the most crowded trade in the world right now," which is useful context for the ADR's strength rather than a reason to treat it as a broad IPO-market signal. 2

Issuer / security	Event and economics	Banks / sponsors	Read-through
SK Hynix ADS	Priced July 9 at $149 per ADS; 177.9 million ADS; about $26.5 billion total size; opened July 10 at $170 and closed at $168.01. 1 2	BofA Securities, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan, Cantor, Mizuho, Needham, RBC, Rosenblatt, Stifel, Wedbush, William Blair, Wolfe, and Nomura Alliance were listed in the underwriting group. 1	The deal gives U.S. accounts direct exposure to SK Hynix, whose KRX-listed shares had risen 634% over the prior year and whose HBM market share was cited at 56.4%. 2
Samos Energy Acquisition Corp.	Priced July 10; 20 million units at $10.00; $200 million SPAC IPO on NYSE under SAMO.U. 14	Cantor was sole bookrunner; the Cayman Islands SPAC targets international energy assets with operating cash flow. 14	Samos brought July 1-10 SPAC pricings to six deals, after Freedom Metals, Bleichroeder III, Meridian3 Industrials, Viking II, and Osprey III priced earlier in the month. 15
SPCX	Joined the Nasdaq-100 on July 7, only 15 trading days after IPO, and closed July 10 at $145.30 after falling 4.51% on the day. 3 4	Morgan Stanley set a $300 target, Raymond James set an $800 target, Goldman Sachs was constructive, and CFRA had the lone sell rating at $115. 3	The event was index inclusion, not new issuance; the stock weakened despite J.P. Morgan's estimated $4.3 billion passive-flow opportunity. 3
Bending Spoons	Priced July 1 at $29, raised about $1.68 billion, and closed July 10 at $32.91. 5	Durable Capital Partners filed a July 9 Schedule 13G showing 23.6 million shares, or 7.3% ownership. 16	The stock remained above IPO price but below its first-day range, so it is now a post-listing support check rather than a fresh pricing signal. 5
Holtec Nuclear	Filed July 10 for a Nasdaq / Nasdaq Texas IPO under HNUC; Q1 2026 revenue was $165.3 million and net income was $17.8 million. 17	J.P. Morgan, Guggenheim Securities, Goldman Sachs, and Citigroup were listed as underwriters. 17	The filing adds nuclear equipment, spent-fuel management, and SMR exposure to the summer IPO pipeline. 17
Tailored Brands	Filed July 10 for a Nasdaq IPO under MENW; the quarter ended May 2 had revenue of $681.8 million and net income of $44.9 million. 18	Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and Jefferies were listed as underwriters; Silver Point Capital is expected to remain controlling shareholder after the IPO. 18	This is a sponsor-backed retail relisting after the company's 2020 bankruptcy restructuring. 18

The forward IPO calendar has two larger operating-company items for next week: Csquare is expected to trade July 16 with a 50 million-share offering at $23-$27, or about $1.25 billion at the midpoint, and Standard Nuclear is expected to trade July 16 with 18.3 million shares at $18-$21, or about $355.9 million. 19 20

M&A and strategic transactions

Deal activity was process-heavy. The main new strategic deal was Solstice / Element, the main approval was Baker Hughes / Chart, and the main live-spread item remained Caesars.

Transaction	Status	Value and structure	Advisors / process point
Baker Hughes / Chart Industries	The European Commission approved the deal on July 10 with conditions. 6	Baker Hughes agreed to acquire Chart for $13.6 billion in cash. 6	Chart must divest its IPSMR technology and small-scale process-technology business to an EU-approved buyer, and the companies must provide 10 years of LNG-equipment interoperability commitments under trustee monitoring. 6
Solstice Advanced Materials / Element Solutions	Announced July 6; expected to close in H1 2027. 7	$14.5 billion including net debt; each Element share receives $10.00 cash plus 0.500 Solstice share, implying about $50.10 per share and about a 15% premium to the July 2 close. 7 21	Goldman Sachs, PJT Partners, and Consello advise Solstice; BofA Securities advises Element. Goldman Sachs provided a $4.7 billion bridge commitment, and the combined company targets net leverage below 3.0x within 18 months. 7
Fertitta / Caesars, with Icahn counterbid attempt	The go-shop runs to July 11, and Icahn tried to assemble a $33-per-share bid before the deadline. 8	Icahn's proposal would top Fertitta's $31-per-share all-cash offer; Jefferies was seeking $5 billion of debt financing for Icahn. 8	The Nevada Gaming Control Board unanimously approved suitability for Fertitta Entertainment CFO Richard Liem and SVP / general counsel Steven Scheinthal on July 8-9, the first regulatory step in the $17.6 billion Fertitta deal. 22
Paramount Skydance / Warner Bros. Discovery	Paramount agreed not to close before July 22 while Oregon AG Dan Rayfield seeks records and a 60-day delay. 23	The transaction is a $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery. 23	The EU Phase I deadline moved to July 22, and Paramount offered to sell its Universal Pictures film-distribution joint venture as a remedy. 23
Apple / Broadcom	Apple announced a new multiyear supply agreement with Broadcom on July 8; this is a strategic supply agreement, not an M&A deal. 24	Apple said the agreement exceeds $30 billion and covers more than 15 billion U.S.-made chips, including custom silicon and wireless components such as FBAR filters. 24	Broadcom will expand its Fort Collins, Colorado operation with $1.5 billion of capital spending. 24
Bayer / Apollo	Announced July 10; expected to close in Q3 2026 subject to antitrust approval. 25	Apollo will buy a minority non-controlling stake in Bayer's long-acting reversible contraceptives business for EUR 3 billion, or about $3.4 billion; Bayer keeps majority ownership and full operational control. 25	Bayer CFO Judith Hartmann framed the transaction as strategic financing to strengthen the balance sheet while the group faces higher liquidity needs tied to bond maturities and litigation. 25
Apollo / easyJet	easyJet's board shifted support to Apollo after the rival bid arrived July 10. 26	Apollo offered GBP 5.7 billion, or $7.7 billion, at GBP 7.15 per share, above Castlelake's GBP 6.90-per-share proposal. 26	Apollo has until August 7 to make a formal offer, while Castlelake's deadline is August 3; EU airline ownership rules remain a main regulatory issue. 26

The Caesars spread is the highest-touch event-driven item because the live alternative bid, board composition, gaming approvals, and financing certainty all matter at once. Caesars director Courtney Mather, a former Icahn Enterprises managing director, resigned July 6, reducing the board from 11 members to 10, and iGaming Business reported that the SEC filing said the resignation did not involve a disagreement with the company. 8 CNBC's David Faber described Icahn's path as a "tough slog" because the board favored Fertitta's deal and viewed that financing as firm. 8

Regulatory and enforcement

The regulatory file centered on market structure, retail-investor protection, and financial-fraud enforcement. For compliance teams, the two most operational items are the CFTC's intervention against CME's 24/7 crude contract and the employee-trading policies that banks are applying to prediction markets.

Matter	Regulator / court	Action	Amount or remedy
CME 24/7 crude oil futures	CFTC	The CFTC stayed CME's self-certified 24/7 crude oil futures contract on July 9 under 17 C.F.R. 40.2(c), one day after CME filed self-certification while a CFTC request for comment was still open. 9	The CFTC will review CME's separate 40.3 application; Chairman Michael S. Selig said CME's decision to disregard the commission's analysis effort was "wholly inappropriate." 9
Prediction-market employee trading	Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan, and Bank of America policy actions	Goldman banned employees from trading prediction-market contracts tied to financial markets and political events, with sports and entertainment carved out; Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan, and Bank of America also tightened or clarified policies. 10 27	CNBC reported that it contacted 50 companies and only three confirmed relevant policies, while two said policies were under review. 10
Argent Capital Management / Trevor L. Vernon	CFTC	The CFTC filed a July 7 civil complaint in the Western District of North Carolina alleging commodity-pool fraud from March 2022 through February 2026. 28	The complaint alleges more than $14 million was raised from at least 60 participants and seeks restitution, disgorgement, civil monetary penalties, trading and registration bans, and permanent injunctions. 28
Elon Musk SEC settlement	U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia	Judge Sparkle Sooknanan approved a $1.5 million SEC settlement tied to Musk's delayed disclosure of a Twitter stake above 5%. 29	The judge said she had "significant misgivings" and questioned why the consent decree ran against Musk's trust rather than Musk personally. 29
SEC Retail Fraud Working Group	SEC	The SEC created a Retail Fraud Working Group inside the Enforcement Division on July 7, led by Deputy Director Kate Zoladz and Asset Management Unit Assistant Director Kim Frederick. 30	The group will focus on fraud against retail investors, including offering fraud, pump-and-dump schemes, market manipulation, and adviser or broker violations of customer obligations. 30
Federal Reserve docket	Federal Reserve	The Fed issued actions involving TS Banking Group and TS Contrarian Bancshares on July 9, proposed amended bank AML-program requirements on July 7, and issued a Small Business Bank action on July 2. 31	The Small Business Bank order followed a severe-undercapitalization finding and gave the Lenexa, Kansas bank a 30-day remediation period. 32
Gasoline price investigations	DOJ and FTC	DOJ's Antitrust Division and the FTC called on state attorneys general to investigate retail gasoline prices on July 3. 33	The letter encouraged states to pursue antitrust, consumer-protection, and price-gouging enforcement where appropriate. 33
Made in USA claims	FTC	The FTC sent warning letters to seven companies that appeared to be making questionable Made in USA claims, and one more company received a warning letter over false U.S.-origin claims. 34	The letters continue an origin-claim enforcement push that included three settlements announced in April. 34
Mediatrix / Blue Isle foreign-exchange fraud	DOJ, U.S. Attorney's Office for Colorado	Michael Shawn Stewart was sentenced July 1 to 288 months, or 24 years, in federal prison. 35	The court ordered $93,273,838.16 in restitution in a scheme where investors were promised more than $179 million while accounts held only $9.8 million. 35

CME's 24/7 crude matter is not just another product-review item. CME had already sued the CFTC on June 18 over the agency's approval of Kalshi and Coinbase perpetual futures, and Jenner & Block withdrew from representing CME in that litigation on July 6 because of positional conflicts. 36 CME said the law-firm change had nothing to do with the merits of the case and did not change its position. 36

Banks, financing, and personnel

No bulge-bracket Q2 earnings were released inside the coverage window. JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, and Citigroup are scheduled to report on July 14, and investors are watching JPMorgan's net-interest-income guidance after management had previously guided to about $103 billion for the full year. 37 The pre-earnings setup changed because Oppenheimer downgraded Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley to Underperform and cut Citigroup and Bank of America to Perform, citing bank-stock valuations and recommending a rotation toward U.S. Bancorp, PNC, Ares Management, and KKR. 38

Financing / move	Type and size	Participants	Routing note
Amazon	Eight-part bond sale of at least $25 billion, with maturities from 2029 through 2066 and both fixed-rate and floating-rate notes. 11	Barclays, Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan, and Morgan Stanley were joint bookrunners. 11	CNBC reported peak demand of $62 billion and said Amazon told underwriters it would not issue more debt in 2026. 39
Blue Origin	First external funding round, about $10 billion, at a $130 billion valuation. 12	Coatue Management invested $4 billion, Jeff Bezos invested $2 billion, and other institutional investors accounted for the remaining $4 billion. 12	The round gives private-market teams a new large comparable for space infrastructure and satellite communications. 12
SpaceX bonds and index inclusion	The $25 billion five-part bond priced June 23-24, and the 2036 bond spread widened from 1.40 percentage points to 1.65 percentage points in secondary trading. 40	MarketAxess data was cited for the spread move; CreditSights managing director Davis Hebert said investors still faced unknowns around future cash burn and borrowing. 40	Credit and equity desks should reconcile the same issuer across a weakening stock, down-trading bonds, and post-index-inclusion passive-flow assumptions. 40
Together AI	$800 million Series C at an $8.3 billion post-money valuation. 13	Aramco Ventures led through Prosperity7 Ventures US; Vista Equity Partners, General Catalyst, Emergence Capital, NVIDIA, March Capital, Pegatron, S Ventures, and SE Ventures participated. 13	The company said annualized bookings exceeded $1.15 billion last quarter and that it plans to increase infrastructure capacity about 50x over five years. 13
ETCI 2.0	The EIB Group, 27 EU governments, and private institutional investors launched a EUR 15 billion target fund-of-funds initiative intended to mobilize EUR 80 billion total investment. 41	Confirmed private investors include Danske Bank, AltamarCAM, Banco Santander, BBVA, Azimut Holding, Green Arrow Capital, and Compagnia di San Paolo. 41	The initiative targets more than 1,500 European tech companies and more than 100 funds, including up to 45 large funds. 41
U.S. corporate bonds and global VC	U.S. corporate-bond issuance reached $1.5228 trillion year-to-date through June, up 28.1% year over year; average daily trading was $69.1 billion, up 14.5%. 42	Global startup funding reached $510 billion in H1 2026, above the $440 billion recorded for all of 2025. 43	OpenAI and Anthropic together accounted for $217 billion, or 43% of global venture funding in H1 2026. 43

JPMorgan's succession story moved again before earnings. Marianne Lake is retiring after 25 years at JPMorgan, Doug Petno and Troy Rohrbaugh were elevated from co-heads of the commercial and investment bank to firmwide co-presidents, and Jennifer Piepszak, Mary Erdoes, Petno, and Rohrbaugh now report directly to Jamie Dimon. 44 Fortune reported that Piepszak and Erdoes each received $20 million retention equity awards, while Petno and Rohrbaugh each received $30 million retention awards. 44

Personnel moves outside JPMorgan were smaller but relevant for bank and hedge-fund coverage. JPMorgan formed a small-cap investment-banking team led by Michael Flynn, focused on roughly $100 million to $500 million transactions, with a reported emphasis on consumer retail and business services. 37 ExodusPoint Capital Management hired Mehmet Bayraktar, formerly of AB Arya, as head of equity risk. 45 Dallas approved an $18.5 million incentive package on June 25 for Morgan Stanley's planned $1.33 billion, 709,000-square-foot Uptown Dallas tower, which is expected to break ground in fall 2026. 46

On the radar

Date	Item	Routing note
July 11	Fertitta / Caesars go-shop expires after Icahn's reported $33-per-share counterbid attempt. 8	Event-driven teams should separate board-approved financing certainty from headline counterbid economics.
July 13	SK Hynix ADS are expected to move from when-issued ticker SKHYV to permanent ticker SKHY. 2	Equity operations and benchmark teams should confirm ticker mapping and ADR settlement setup.
July 14	JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, and Citigroup are scheduled to begin large-bank Q2 earnings. 37	Watch investment-banking fee commentary, trading revenue, credit reserves, and JPMorgan's NII guide.
July 16	Csquare and Standard Nuclear are expected to trade, with projected deal sizes of about $1.25 billion and $355.9 million, respectively. 19 20	IPO desks should compare demand for software / data exposure against nuclear-infrastructure appetite.
July 22	Paramount Skydance / WBD faces the delayed EU Phase I timetable and a self-imposed no-close commitment amid Oregon's records fight. 23	Antitrust and media teams should track whether EU remedies clear while state-level U.S. scrutiny remains active.
August 3 and August 7	Castlelake and Apollo face their respective easyJet formal-offer deadlines. 26	Airlines and sponsor teams should model price tension alongside EU majority-ownership constraints.

Cover image: image from Fast Company.