New York Stock Exchange president Lynn Martin told Yahoo Finance that she feels optimistic about the stock market and the economy as momentum builds for companies going public following a long IPO drought.
“I’m very optimistic on the state of our markets,” Martin said at the White House after the opening bell for the NYSE and the Nasdaq was rung for the first time in the Oval Office.
“Our economy is doing extraordinarily well, and what most people don’t fully appreciate is that it’s across all sectors, not just the tech sector. The consumer is doing well, continues to show its strength, the industrial sector, the energy sector, the defense sector in particular.”
Martin said she is “incredibly optimistic” about companies coming to market through initial public offerings, as Anthropic (ANTH.PVT) and OpenAI (OPAI.PVT) prepare to go public in blockbuster offerings following SpaceX’s record-setting IPO.
A choppy stock market, buffeted by fears of an oil price spike and inflation from the Iran conflict, has nevertheless ground higher this spring and summer, ushering in IPOs that have been welcomed by markets. Elon Musk’s SpaceX (SPCX) debuted with a record-breaking $1.77 trillion market capitalization, raising nearly $86 billion. The company’s shares have lost altitude since their debut, but they remain above the offering price of $135. AI company Cerebras Systems (CBRS), which makes massive computer chips tailored for training AI models, executed the largest initial public offering for a tech firm in years when it went public on May 14 before facing a sharp decline.
And the number of companies filing to go public is up, according to Renaissance Capital. Artificial intelligence giants OpenAI and Anthropic are among the hopefuls that have submitted confidential filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Sandwich chain Jersey Mike’s filed for an initial public offering last Thursday. Semiconductor company SK Hynix is launching a massive American depositary receipt (ADR) listing on the Nasdaq on July 10, seeking to raise up to $28.2 billion.
Discord, a gaming and community social platform backed by Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan, has also confidentially filed to go public, targeting a valuation exceeding its private market value of $15 billion. Inspire Brands, the Atlanta-based group that owns Dunkin’ and Buffalo Wild Wings, is also looking to go public to raise $2 billion.
Martin was at the White House on Monday to help promote Trump Accounts, the new investment accounts for kids to gain a foothold in the markets and begin learning how to invest.
