This week is expected to be the busiest for U.S. IPOs since February, with Warner Music leading a group of four companies that could raise over $3 billion.
Why it matters: This shouldn't be happening, under any traditional rubric for how markets work.
What's happening: American passions over race and policing are inflamed, with many neighborhoods literally in flames.
- Over 104,000 Americans are dead from the ongoing pandemic, with infection rates rising in several large states.
- Tens of millions of Americans are unemployed.
- And, just for good measure, China is threatening to renege on part of the phase one trade deal.
Yet, stocks opened flat, prompting Axios Markets editor Dion Rabouin to declare: "Not even God himself could sink this market rally."
- And, again, there's no indication that bankers are reconsidering the week's IPO slate, which in addition to Warner Music includes Legend Biotech, Pliant Therapeutics, and ZoomInfo.
- Economists often warn not to conflate stock market moves with real-time economic realities, but this decoupling feels extreme.
If you know what's coming next, or even have a strong sense of it, you're lying to yourself.
