Equity Capital Markets Update, February 2026

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U.S. Market Commentary

Key U.S. Macro Themes

Geopolitics and Global Trade

• On 2/28, U.S. and Israel launched a coordinated joint military operation against Iran, targeting nuclear facilities, military infrastructure, and senior leadership – oil markets moved sharply upward as traffic through the Strait of Hormuz came to a near halt
• On 2/20, U.S. Supreme Court struck down all IEEPA-based tariffs – key authority underpinning the Trump administration’s tariff regime
• The same day, U.S. administration responded by imposing flat 15% across-the-board tariff on imports by executive authority – this dynamic continues to drive market uncertainty and ~$170BN of tariff revenue collected last year is in limbo as courts work through logistics of a potential refund

Monetary Policy, Labor Market, and Inflation

• Markets are anticipating that the Fed will hold rates steady at the March meeting to let 2025 cuts work their way through the economy
• U.S. unemployment at 4.3% – non-farm payrolls rose by 130,000 in the month of January 2026 – well above 55,000 consensus estimate
• U.S. CPI rose 2.4% for the 12-month period ended January 2026 – below expectations and down 30 bps from December

Source: Bloomberg, FactSet, FOMC. Market data as of 2/28/26. Issuance figures exclude SPAC IPOs.

U.S. Equities Overview

Public Equity Markets

• S&P 500, Dow, and NASDAQ performance was mixed for the four-week period ended February 28th
  – NASDAQ printed its worst monthly performance since March 2025, driven by a reset in software valuations on the back of AI disruption concerns and earnings disappointments from the hyperscalers
  – The indices posted results of (0.9%), +0.2%, and (3.4%), respectively

Equity Capital Markets

• Over the last four weeks, 14 IPOs representing ~$4BN and 40 FollowOns representing ~$11BN have priced across a variety of sectors
• Notable transactions include:
  – Generate Biomedicines – $400mm IPO – (20.9%) offer-to-current
  – SOLV Energy – $589mm IPO – +26.1% offer-to-current
  – Forgent Power Solutions – $1,740mm IPO – +27.4% offer-to-current
  – Eikon Therapeutics – $381mm IPO – (23.4%) offer-to-current
  – Bob’s Discount Furniture – $380mm IPO – +24.9% offer-to-current
  – Veradermics – $295mm IPO – +169.7% offer-to-current

Source: Bloomberg, FactSet, FOMC. Market data as of 2/28/26. Issuance figures exclude SPAC IPOs.