The IPO market is struggling this year, with several companies postponing their plans to next year due to volatility and uncertainty, the Wall Street Journal cites bankers, lawyers, and corporate executives as saying.

Expectations of a slowdown in September — usually a busy month for IPOs — points to underlying concerns among investors that volatility could continue through the end of the year amid the upcoming US presidential election in November and potential interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve.

By the numbers: IPOs in the US have raised some USD 25 bn this year, faring well below the USD 55 bn annual average over the past decade. Both Chinese autonomous-driving technology company WeRide and ticket-resale platform StubHub pushed back their IPO plans, while AI chip maker Cerebras is among those considering pushing its IPO to late 2024 or holding off until next year.

Market turbulence has dampened investor confidence, with many companies that went public in the past two and a half years now trading below their IPO prices, with the exception of Reddit’s successful IPO earlier in March, up more than 70% from its USD 34 IPO price.

There’s still hope for smaller companies: The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies has outperformed the S&P 500 by more than five percentage points since late June. “Since the majority of IPOs are for relatively small companies — under USD 5 bn in value at the time of their offerings — the recent gains for this group is encouraging,” the WSJ said.

EGX30

30,774

+0.2% (YTD: +23.6%)

USD (CBE)

Buy 48.55

Sell 48.69

USD (CIB)

Buy 48.57

Sell 48.67

Interest rates (CBE)

27.25% deposit

28.25% lending

Tadawul

12,145

+0.2% (YTD: +1.5%)

ADX

9,285

+0.6% (YTD: -3.1%)

DFM

4,325

-0.2% (YTD: +6.5%)

S&P 500

5,648

+1.0% (YTD: +18.4%)

FTSE 100

8,377

0.0% (YTD: +8.3%)

Euro Stoxx 50

4,958

-0.2% (YTD: +9.7%)

Brent crude

USD 76.93

-2.4%

Natural gas (Nymex)

USD 2.13

+0.5%

Gold

USD 2,527.60

-1.3%

BTC

USD 58,955.70

-0.2% (YTD: +39.5%)

THE CLOSING BELL-

The EGX30 rose 0.2% at Thursday’s close on turnover of EGP 6.6 bn (75% above the 90-day average). International investors were the sole net buyers. The index is up 23.6% YTD.

In the green: Emaar Misr (+5.0%), Beltone Holding (+3.9%), and TMG Holding (+3.9%).

In the red: ADIB (-2.4%), Elsewedy Electric (-2.4%), and Juhayna (-2.4%).

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