Morning Roundup: October 10, 2023

At the SPAC of Dawn

Good morning! Watch this space moving forward as a roundup of evening filings as well as news nuggets to nibble on beside your morning coffee.

SPACs had a quiet start to the week yesterday with the market digesting a new Middle East war and extra helpings from Canadian Thanksgiving.

The question now is what sort of lasting affect the new outbreak of violence will have. Although US exchanges tumbled out of the gate, they finished the day with a gain – one that was not shared by Israeli de-SPACs broadly. HUB Cyber Security (NASDAQ:HUBC) was one exception as the Mount Rainier target jumped up +180% late in the trading session.

More broadly, major defense stocks like Northrop Grumman (NYSE:NOC) and Lockheed Martin (NYSE:LMT) logged positive momentum alongside oil stocks as is to be expected. But, crude oil prices have ticked up only slightly at $86.28 near the beginning of the day, well below their 52-week high above $95.

Oil prices are no longer the bellwether for the US economy that they once were, and interest rates may instead be the ripple that changes things for SPACs. Fed officials intimated that recent rises in long-term Treasury yields might preclude the need for further hikes.

Yet, throughout the day those yields were trending lower, indicating that a general risk-off sentiment – never a positive for SPACs – might linger.

News and Rumors

• PR: Hudson Acquisition I Corp. (NASDAQ:HUDA) mourns the loss of CFO Hon Man Yun, who passed away October 3. The SPAC announced an LOI with a biotech company in March.
• Motley Fool: Ackman’s SPARC provides an attractive wrinkle for SPAC investors, but also comes at a time when the IPO market appears to be returning.
• PR: Japan-based AERWINS, which combined with Pono in February, will launch a US subsidiary for a new hoverbike design, with Executive Chariman and President Kiran Sidhu putting up $300,000 of the initial working capital.