BlackRock's big bet on a hot investing trend — Activist investor angry over delayed COVID treatment — Point72 snaps up portfolio managers

It's the last day before Turkey Day. Things tend to be quiet today. But the way this year has gone, who knows.

A programming note, the newsletter will be off Thursday and Friday. But we'll be back in action on Monday, so fear not.

If you're not yet a subscriber, you can sign up here to get your daily dose of the stories dominating banking, business, and big deals.

Sign up here for our upcoming webinar 'How to land a job in private equity' on December 3 at 1 p.m. ET, featuring speakers from Bain Capital, The Carlyle Group, Apollo, and Odyssey Search Partners.

Like the newsletter? Hate the newsletter? Feel free to drop me a line at ddefrancesco@businessinsider.com or on Twitter @DanDeFrancesco.

BlackRock is making a $1 billion bet on a trendy type of indexing

BlackRock announced earlier this week its plans to buy Aperio, a California-based investment provider.

Rebecca Ungarino has some nice analysis on why the asset manager is betting big on separately managed accounts, which allow investors to customize them as they see fit.

Click here to read the entire story.

A first-generation college student from an HBCU crushed her virtual internship at BlackRock and landed a full-time offer

Reed Alexander with a nice look at a BlackRock intern who was offered a full-time job upon her graduation. While that might not seem too interesting, Tamia Marrow's journey to Wall Street is definitely worth a read. Check it out here.

Activist investor Sian Capital is going after pharma company Opko Health for dragging its feet on a potential COVID treatment

Bradley Saacks with a nice look at how Sian Capital, an activist investor, is pushing Opko Health to speed up its work on a potential COVID treatment. Bradley has the full rundown. Read the story here.

A utilities-focused hedge fund that managed $319 million is shutting down, with its staff moving to Point72

Nice scoop from Jack Newsham about a hedge fund shutting down and its staff getting picked up by Steve Cohen's Point72. Read the whole story here.

Read the 14-page pitch deck fintech HMBradley, a neobank offering interest rates as high as 3%, used to nab $18.25 million

Pitch-deck alert! Here's a fun one from challenger bank HMBradley, which has a different business model than most startup banks. Check out why the bank is focusing on deposits, as opposed to revenue from interchange fees. Read the deck here.

Odd lots:

Botched installs, broken panels, ghosting reps: Powerhome Solar is facing fresh complaints from frustrated customers (BI)

JPMorgan Chase pays $250 million penalty over weak controls in its wealth management division (CNBC)

Deutsche Bank Weighs Move to 2-Days-a-Week Remote Working (Bloomberg)

McCormick Buys Hot-Sauce Maker Cholula (WSJ)