Finance & economics | Buttonwood

Wall Street is praying firms will start going public again

The IPO market is on its longest cold streak since 1980

An illustration of an eskimo looking through the ice, discovering money and a mammoth beneath the frozen surface.
Illustration: Satoshi Kambayashi

Can you feel the chill? It is bone-deep, now. In 2021 capital markets were searing hot. On average, at least one new firm went public every working day. But financial districts today are icy. For two long years private companies have spurned public markets, as rising interest rates dashed lofty valuations and stock prices vacillated.

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This article appeared in the Finance & economics section of the print edition under the headline “The bleak midwinter”

From the January 20th 2024 edition

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