Economy

The U.S. IPO market has seen an uptick amid falling interest rates, strong equity markets, and hopes of a friendlier regulatory environment under the incoming Trump administration. Maze’s decision follows a strong 2024 for biotech companies, with firms such as Septerna and Bicara Therapeutics receiving a positive response from investors at their debut. Maze said it earned $9.03 million for the nine months ended Sept. 30, 2024, compared with a loss of $73.84 million in the year-ago period. The terms of the IPO were not disclosed in the offering. The San Francisco, California-based company is also backed by healthcare investors ARCH Venture Partners and General Catalyst. Maze is advancing two fully-owned lead programs, MZE829 and MZE782, both of which represent a “novel precision medicine-based” approach for chronic kidney disease. The funds raised from the IPO will be used to advance the clinical development of these lead programs. The company is also developing another program, MZE001, for a genetic disorder called Pompe disease through a partnership agreement with Japanese firm Shionogi. France-based healthcare company Sanofi (NASDAQ:SNY) had previously announced a global licensing agreement with Maze for MZE001 in May 2023. However, Sanofi later scrapped the agreement following an administrative complaint issued by the Federal Trade Commission, which cited the French firm’s monopoly in the treatment of Pompe disease. Maze Therapeutics intends to list its shares on the Nasdaq Global Market under the ticker symbol “MAZE”. J.P. Morgan, TD Cowen, Leerink Partners and Guggenheim Securities are the lead underwriters of the offering. More

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The White House on Tuesday unveiled a new label for smart thermostats, baby monitors, app-controlled lights and other internet-connected devices that will allow consumers to see how the increasingly popular items rate on cybersafety criteria. The Cyber Trust Mark – a stylized shield logo with microchip-style detailing – is meant to give American consumers a quick and easy way to evaluate the security of a given smart product, much like U.S. Department of Agriculture labels on food or Energy Star ratings on appliances.Companies seeking the label for their products must meet established cybersecurity criteria from the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology via compliance testing by accredited labs.An increasing number of everyday devices are being connected to the internet: garage doors, fitness trackers, security cameras, voice-activated assistants and even ovens and trash cans, providing users with added convenience but introducing novel risks. “Each one of these devices presents a digital door that motivated cyber attackers are eager to enter,” U.S. Deputy National Security Advisor for Cyber Anne Neuberger told reporters on a call.The Cyber Trust Mark is voluntary. But Neuberger said she hoped “consumers will start asking for the label and saying, ‘Look, I don’t want to connect another device in my home, a camera, a baby monitor that risks my privacy.'”She said the government plans to start with consumer devices such as cameras before moving on to home and office routers and smart meters. Products bearing the label should be hitting store shelves sometime this year, she said. The White House is also planning an executive order in the final days of the administration of President Joe Biden that will restrict the U.S. government to only buying Cyber Trust Mark products beginning in 2027. The program has bipartisan support, she added. More

VIENNA (Reuters) -Austrian far-right Freedom Party (FPO) leader Herbert Kickl called on the conservative People’s Party (OVP) to be “honest” in their imminent coalition talks or face the prospect of a snap election, with his support still rising and the OVP’s falling.The eurosceptic, Russia-friendly FPO, an ally of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s Fidesz party, won the last parliamentary election in September with around 29% of the vote but was initially sidelined as centrist parties attempted to form a coalition without it.Those efforts collapsed at the weekend, prompting President Alexander van der Bellen to task Kickl with forming a government, giving Kickl a chance to become Austria’s first FPO chancellor since his party was founded in the 1950s under a leader who had been a senior SS officer and Nazi lawmaker.”Honest government must be preceded by honest negotiations,” Kickl said, adding: “No little games, no tricks, no sabotage.” He also called on new, interim OVP leader Christian Stocker to ensure his party is stable and united, a reference to divisions that appear to have helped collapse the centrist coalition talks.”If that is not the case, then … there will be snap election. We are prepared,” Kickl said, a clear threat given that opinion polls show FPO support has only risen since September while the OVP’s has fallen, with the gap growing to more than 10 percentage points.Kickl’s statement, his first since Van der Bellen announced that he had tasked him with forming a government, was short on policy details.He said he wanted a “massive political firefighting operation” to bring the Alpine republic’s finances under control but did not give specifics.How to bring the budget deficit back within the European Union’s limit of 3% of economic output was the main sticking point in the centrist coalition talks. It is unclear how the FPO and OVP would achieve that – they both prefer to trim government spending to raising taxes, but are wary of cutting big-ticket items like pensions. Kickl said he would extend the invitation to talks to the OVP, his only potential coalition partner, after his party’s leadership signs off on the move on Tuesday evening, and that once the talks begin they should quickly establish whether a coalition is possible.On Tuesday evening, the FPO and Kickl said the party’s leadership had given its approval.”Minutes ago I spoke to Christian Stocker on the phone and there will be an initial meeting soon,” Kickl told reporters after the leadership meeting. More

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The ISM services index Tuesday posted a reading of 54.1%, up 2 percentage points from November and above the Dow Jones consensus forecast of 53.4%.
Along with the better overall reading, the prices index jumped to 64.4%, an increase of 6.2 points or more than 10%. It was the first time the index had eclipsed 60% since January of 2024.
Treasury yields, particularly at the longer end of the curve, moved higher after the release.

A person shops at a Whole Foods Market grocery store on December 17, 2024 in New York City. 
Spencer Platt | Getty Images

Activity in the U.S. services industry accelerated in December but brought with it a sharp rise in expectations for price increases as businesses grew concerned about the impact tariffs would have on inflation.
The Institute for Supply Management’s services index Tuesday posted a reading of 54.1%, representing the share of businesses expecting growth. That was up 2 percentage points from November and better than the Dow Jones survey of economists showing a consensus forecast of 53.4%.

Along with the better overall reading, the prices index jumped to 64.4%, an increase of 6.2 points or more than 10%. It was the first time the index had eclipsed 60% since January 2024, said Steve Miller, chair of ISM’s Business Survey Committee. The prices index hit its highest level since February 2023.
“There was general optimism expressed across many industries, but tariff concerns elicited the most panelist comments,” Miller said.
President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to enact sweeping tariffs after he takes office later this month. Trump on Monday denied a Washington Post report that he was considering a narrower, more targeted approach.
The ISM manufacturing survey for the month also reflected higher prices, with the index rising to 52.5%, up 2.2 points on the month.
Treasury yields, particularly at the longer-dated end of the curve, moved higher following the release. The benchmark 10-year note most recently yielded 4.68%, up 0.065 percentage point, or 6.5 basis points, on the session.

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10-year yield

In the services survey, multiple respondents cited tariffs as a concern while noting a generally positive business climate wrapping up 2024.
“Seems to be a lot of uncertainty about tariffs and purchasing decisions. A lot of wait and see,” said one respondent in the transportation and warehousing industry.
“Generally optimistic that the incoming administration will positively affect regulatory, tax and energy policies that will spur economic improvement. We are concerned about tariff activity and are hoping for the best,” an information services industry manager reported.
The business activity index also moved higher, rising to 58.2%, an increase of 4.5 points.
Employment was little changed at 51.4%; in the ISM manufacturing survey, the index fell to 45.3%, a decline of 2.8 points. Any reading in the ISM surveys below 50% represents contraction.
Readings on inflation and employment conditions are critical for the Federal Reserve as it contemplates future moves in monetary policy. The central bank lowered its benchmark borrowing rate by a full percentage point from September through December in 2024 but is expected to move at a more cautious pace now as it evaluates incoming economic data.
A separate report Tuesday indicated that job openings nudged higher in November while fewer workers left their jobs.
The Labor Department’s Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey showed available positions rising to 8.1 million, an increase of 259,000 for the month and higher than the 7.7 million estimate from Dow Jones. At the same time, quits fell to 3.06 million, a decline of 218,000.
The level of job openings to available workers held around 1.1 to 1.

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