The largest IPO of the 12 months | Invesloan.com

Good morning and welcome back to FirstFT. Today shares in CoreWeave, the US data centre operator, begin trading in what is Wall Street’s biggest IPO year to date. We’ll bring you details of last night’s pricing and here’s what else we’re covering:

• JD Vance’s controversial visit to Greenland

• The Congressional Budget Office’s debt warning

• Trump’s oil dilemma

• And a new show by Mexican artist José María Velasco

CoreWeave reduced the size and value of its hotly anticipated initial public offering last night in another sign of the wavering demand for artificial intelligence infrastructure on Wall Street.

Why did CoreWeave cut the price of its IPO? CoreWeave had initially hoped to raise $4bn from last night’s IPO but once the roadshow started it became clear there was less investor demand than anticipated and it cut that target to $2.7bn. The number of shares for sale was reduced from 49mn to 37.5mn and the price of each share from between $47 and $55 to $40 a piece. When shares in the former cryptocurrency mining operation start trading this morning on the Nasdaq stock exchange its market value will be $23bn, the same as a private market valuation in October last year.

What does the CoreWeave’s IPO tell us more generally about the market for new listings? CoreWeave had a number of company- and sector-specific issues to deal with during the run-up to today’s IPO that mean the read-across for the broader new issues market is limited. Firstly, CoreWeave has a very large amount of debt on its balance sheet. Interest payments ate up all of the company’s 2024 operating profit. Second is its limited customer base. CoreWeave has just two companies that use its services, Microsoft and OpenAI, and one supplier, Nvidia. Nvidia and OpenAI are also shareholders and Nvidia is increasing its shareholding through this IPO. Then, finally, the broader market context has not helped CoreWeave attract buyers for its new shares. The Nasdaq Composite is down almost 8 per cent this year while Nvidia shares have fallen nearly 20 per cent year-to-date as investors’ hopes for growth in the domestic and global economy have soured since the inauguration of Donald Trump.

Which other companies are looking to IPO this year? There are a raft of companies hoping to list on the stock market this year that will be watching today’s CoreWeave debut very closely. Fintechs Klarna and Chime and retail trading platform eToro and ticketing group StubHub have also filed for listings and are expected to float in the next two months. Liquefied natural gas producer Venture Global began trading in January and its shares have halved since its IPO.

Here’s what else we’re keeping tabs on today and over the weekend:

• JD Vance: The vice-president and his wife make a controversial visit to Greenland. Donald Trump has refused to rule out taking the Arctic island by military force, upsetting islanders and Nato ally Denmark. The visit is the latest provocation from the Trump White House in its quest for territorial expansion.

• Economic data: Canada releases growth data covering the fourth quarter of 2024. The commerce department updates the closely watched Personal Consumption Expenditures Price index, which measures the value of goods and services purchased by US consumers and is the Federal Reserve’s preferred measure of inflation.

• Federal Reserve: The Federal Reserve Board governor Michael Barr participates in an event hosted by the University of North Carolina Law School, in Charlotte, North Carolina, and Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta president Raphael Bostic will moderate a panel at an event in Atlanta, Georgia.

How well did you keep up with the news this week? Take our quiz.

Five more top stories

1. Exclusive: Giorgia Meloni has described some European leaders’ reaction to Donald Trump as “a bit too political” and dismissed the idea of choosing sides between Europe and the US as “childish” and “superficial”. Read the full interview with the Italian prime minister, her first with a foreign language newspaper since taking office in 2022.

2. Xi Jinping has urged global business leaders to work together to protect supply chains at a meeting in Beijing that included Rajesh Subramaniam of FedEx and Pascal Soriot of AstraZeneca. The event at the Great Hall of the People marked the second consecutive year that Xi held a carefully staged meeting with foreign CEOs in the Chinese capital. Here’s more of the Chinese premier’s comments.

3. A powerful earthquake struck central Myanmar on Friday afternoon, causing buildings to be evacuated hundreds of miles away in Bangkok, the capital of neighbouring Thailand. Pictures on social media showed buildings in Mandalay, the country’s historic capital and the epicentre of the 7.7-magnitude earthquake, reduced to rubble. Our reporters in Asia have the latest.

4. The US is pushing for a sweeping new deal to control Ukraine’s critical minerals and energy assets while offering Kyiv no security guarantees in return, in an aggressive expansion of its previous demands. Senior Ukrainian officials said the proposal could undermine their nation’s sovereignty, route profits abroad and deepen its dependence on Washington.

5. Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney said his country’s old relationship with the US was “over” and vowed a “broad renegotiation” of the trade agreement between Ottawa and Washington. The premier said yesterday that Trump’s tariffs would force Canada to reshape its economy and seek “reliable” trading partners.

Today’s big read

Active ETFs are cheaper for providers and consumers and could help asset managers reduce outflows. But with growth starting from a low base and huge US groups dominating the market, can they still be a lifeline for Europe’s stockpickers?

We’re also reading . . . 

• Trump’s oil dilemma: The president’s advisers view the fossil fuel’s price as a crucial anti-inflation tool, but there are three big headwinds to contend with, writes Gillian Tett.

• AI and jobs: New research shows ChatGPT’s inability to cope with “messy” multitasking is sheltering some human workers, writes John Burn-Murdoch.

• FT View: The US car tariffs announced yesterday by the White House will help Chinese electric-vehicle makers, like BHD, advance and raise costs for American consumers.

Chart of the day

The US’s federal debt burden is set to surpass the peak it reached in the wake of the second world war in coming years, Congress’s fiscal watchdog has warned yesterday, underscoring growing concerns over America’s public finances. The projections from the Congressional Budget Office come just days after rating agency Moody’s delivered a warning about the sustainability of the US’s fiscal position and as the Trump administration promises to deliver substantial tax cuts for households and businesses.

Take a break from the news . . . 

José María Velasco, the Mexican artist, was born in 1840 and painted the country’s landscapes, flora and fauna. “Velasco helped the country see itself,” writes critic Jackie Wullschläger in her review of his show at the National Gallery in London, the first ever devoted to a Latin American artist.