Surfing the Waves of Uncertainty: Summer 2025 Market Outlook

The market is changing, and it’s not just about inflation or interest rates. It’s rewriting valuations, reworking supply chains, and reshaping your disclosures. This episode of The Pre-Read, brought to you by Workiva, explores what happens when market volatility meets materiality, and why CFOs, GCs, and audit chairs are all paying attention.

We feature insights from Nick Mazing of AlphaSense and Josh Gertsch, Workiva Industry Principal for Capital Markets, on the unpredictable forces at play.

Nick discusses the messy and varied impact of tariffs, noting that the deal-by-deal approach has created an unpredictable environment, even for companies expected to benefit. He also touches on how AI is maturing in corporate disclosures, the return of M&A, and the growing number of companies allocating to Bitcoin.

Josh provides a historical perspective on the IPO market, highlighting the biggest boom in over 20 years, followed by some of the worst years ever, and its current upward trend. He explains that despite a large pipeline of companies ready to go public, market volatility—especially with changes over 20%—is preventing deals from being priced. He advises companies to focus on what they can control, such as refining their equity story and ensuring operational readiness, while they wait for stability.

Timestamps:
03:00 The messy and explicit nature of tariff disclosures
06:25 The copper example: Who are tariffs really helping?
09:15 Other topics showing up in earnings releases: AI, inflation, and M&A
11:00 Interest rates, inflation, and the new normal
13:50 The return of big M&A deals
15:45 The risk of assessing the impact in SEC filings
18:50 Josh Gertsch’s background and expertise in capital markets
21:30 What happened to the pent-up demand for IPOs
25:30 What needs to happen for the IPO window to open again
30:40 The importance of the equity story and operational readiness 
#IPOs #CapitalMarkets #Tariffs #M&A #Finance #Workiva #MarketVolatility

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