The Sagging IPO Market, and Two Big Meetings This Week -- Podcast

It hasn't been the hottest year for the IPO market. In fact, companies that in the past would be likely candidates to go public, are finding their best route to maximizing their potential is to get bought out instead.

This week's MoneyBeat podcast took a look at the changing IPO market, and what it means for the capital markets and Wall Street. Even as the IPO market fades, the M&A market is surging, and companies are being rewarded for going out and buying other companies. That's creating a dynamic where it makes more sense for both the big public companies, and the smaller start-ups, to do deals.

The MoneyBeat team also previewed two big meetings coming up this week: the ECB's policy meeting on Thursday, and the OPEC meeting on Friday.

The ECB is widely expected to introduce new stimulus measures, in a further attempt to push down the euro, drive economic activity, and push inflation higher. Whatever the bank does, it will further stoke the cross currents between Europe and the U.S., where the Federal Reserve has its own big meeting later this month.

As for OPEC, the Friday meeting is shaping up as a showdown over production quotas between Saudi Arabia and Iran. The outcome of the meeting could have a major impact on where the price of oil goes from here.

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