IPO market’s red-hot year has been cooled by the shutdown and more caution among investors

NEW YORK (AP) — A strong year for initial public offerings on Wall Street has fizzled out due to the government shutdown and a cautious turn by investors.

Many IPOs targeted for the end of this year will likely be pushed into next year as the Securities and Exchange Commission works to clear a backlog of hundreds of registration statements. Meanwhile, shares of companies that did make their market debuts haven’t fared well lately amid concerns that stocks have gotten too expensive after another double-digit gain for the market this year.

“A backlogged SEC, the approaching holiday slowdown, and pressure on AI and other tech stocks are all weighing on hopes for a near-term rebound,” wrote Bill Smith, CEO of Renaissance Capital, in a note to investors.

Despite the backlog, Wall Street is still anticipating several IPOs in November and December that were already in the later stages of the regulatory process.

Central Bancompany was one of the bigger companies going public following the end of the government shutdown. The bank holding company for The Central Trust Bank raised $373 million from its IPO on Thursday. Still, November is on track to be among the slowest months for IPOs in 2025, according to Renaissance Capital.

Wall Street anticipates that medical supplies company Medline could go public in December, potentially raising up to $5 billion, while cryptocurrency technology company BitGo remains another potential IPO for next month.

The more cautious turn for the market has also checked the gains of some more recent IPOs, sending some falling sharply since their debuts.

Web design software company Figma has essentially lost all its gains since going public in July. It more than tripled on its first day of trading after pricing at $33 per share. It is now trading slightly above the IPO price.

Klarna, the Swedish buy now, pay later company priced its IPO at $40 per share in September and is currently trading close to $29 per share. Cloud computing company CoreWeave also priced its IPO at $40 per share, in March. It surged in the months following its IPO, but has pulled back significantly to about $72 per share.

Software company Navan went public at $25 per share in the midst of the government shutdown but failed to gain much ground and is now trading at about $15.

The benchmark S&P 500 is having a bleak November. It’s down 3.5% for the month, with much of that decline being led by the tech sector, which had been driven higher by enthusiasm over developments in artificial intelligence. Wall Street has grown more concerned about whether the gains have been justified.

The S&P 500 is still up more than 12% for the year and the tech-heavy Nasdaq is up more than 15%.

Renaissance Capital’s IPO Index is down about nearly 0.8% so far this year as of Friday and has been falling against the S&P 500 since mid-October.

“What that shows is that investors very quickly monetized, they didn’t want to take the long-term risk,” said Samuel Kerr, head of global equity capital markets at Mergermarket.

Still, overall demand for IPOs remains strong. Even with the recent pullback, the broader market remains expensive, especially within the influential technology sector. IPOs have traditionally been another way for investors to get into the market at a less expensive entry point.

“Increasingly, as a money manager, you have to find other places to make money and typically, IPOs are that place,” said, David Kaufman, partner and co-chair of the corporate & securities practice at Thompson Coburn LLP. “You continue to have all these large mutual funds and money managers with excess cash and no place to put this cash.”

The broader market’s direction in the new year will determine the costs and types of IPOs. Some of the more anticipated big tech names that could go public in 2026 include AI-focused software company Databricks and graphic design app Canva. Wall Street also considers financial technology Plaid as another possible 2026 IPO.

Any visible lull in IPO activity through the rest of the year is partially masking a flurry of activity beneath the surface as companies go through the regulatory process.

“It’s a busy time for lawyers and bankers trying to tee things up for the first and second quarter of next year,” Kaufman said.