Western IPO slump forces PE firms to buy back companies: As investor optimism on IPOs in US and EU markets continues to flounder, private equity firms are looking to re-acquire public companies they owned or held minority stakes in, reports the Financial Times. With share prices in newly-listed companies well below their initial IPO level, firms have cheap purchases on their hands, industry executives said. However, firms reinvesting in companies with one failed IPO will be pressured to improve them if the plan is to relist in the future. “In order to relist, there needs to be fundamental changes to the company,” one buyout executive told the salmon-colored paper.

Other stories worth knowing about on this fine fall morning:

#1- AI boom drives the Nasdaq to a 22-month high: The Nasdaq 100 climbed to fresh peaks at the closing bell yesterday, while the S&P 500 closed at its highest since August. Investors rallied ahead of tech giant Nvidia’s earnings results, due to be out today, as well as Sam Altman’s new addition to the team at Microsoft (we’ve covered the story above).

AND- US 10-year yields fell to around 4.4% as investors continued to believe that the Federal Reserve has reached the end of its aggressive tightening cycle after it held rates unchanged at the start of this month.

THE CLOSING BELL-

The ADX was flat yesterday on turnover of AED 830.8 mn.

In the green: Emirates Driving Company (+12.7%), Al Khaleej Investment (+12.0%) and Chimera (+4.9%).

In the red: Hayah Ins. Company (-4.6%), Bildco (-3.2%) and Aram Group (-2.8%).

Meanwhile, the DFM closed up 0.2% yesterday. The index is up 20.0% YTD.

Tags: