April 25, 2025 • 7 mins
Nasdaq CEO Adena Friedman discusses first quarter earnings, and how markets have handled this period of heightened volatility. She speaks with Bloomberg's Jonathan Ferro, Lisa Abramowicz, and Annmarie Hordern.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
The outlook for corporates gets harder, American Airlines and Pepsi
joining a growing list of companies trimming or pulling forecast
you to trade uncertainty, NASDAK hoping to provide stability in
this volatile environment, and the nast next Sea. Dana Friedman
joined us now for more. Diana, good morning, good to
see you.
Speaker 3 (00:21):
It's great to see you, great to be here.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Can you describe the last month for us if you can,
just how busy have things been described to volume, the
activity going through your business?
Speaker 3 (00:31):
Well, thanks, thanks for having me.
Speaker 4 (00:32):
First of all, we just announced earnings yesterday, so I
think that shows a little bit of what.
Speaker 3 (00:37):
We've been what we've been working with.
Speaker 4 (00:38):
We had twelve and a half percent revenue growth. We
had double digit growth in each of our three divisions,
and a couple of highlights.
Speaker 3 (00:45):
One is within.
Speaker 4 (00:46):
Our Capital Axis Platforms division, our index business grew twenty
six percent in the first.
Speaker 3 (00:51):
Quarter because of inflows.
Speaker 4 (00:52):
We had twenty seven billion dollars of inflows in the quarter.
Very strong futures volumes as well in our NAS like
one hundred franchise. And then we look at our Fintech
division that grew ten percent, and one of the highlights
there is our anti financial crime business grew twenty one percent,
and that's an important key grower for US. And then
within our market services division, which is our trading business,
that grew nineteen percent in the first quarter because of
(01:14):
record volumes in the first quarter, and we continue to
see those volumes persist and actually grow into April. The
first ten days of April, we had five of the
top six trading days ever in US equities, four of
the top six trading days ever in options, and in
one of the days, like we also measured message traffic
because that's how how many messages our systems handling during
(01:35):
a given day. On the peak day, which was April seventh,
we had five hundred and fifty billion messages flow through
our systems on that single day. So it has been
an incredible period of time from a trading perspective.
Speaker 3 (01:46):
And the one thing.
Speaker 4 (01:47):
To note, because we talked about this earlier, you know,
you don't get necessarily credit for this, but the fact
is that the plumbing within the markets, all of the
markets has done really, really well, hyper resilient. I think
we've all been able to manage this volume extraordinarily. Well,
we're very proud of that at NASAC, and I can
tell you that our markets have done quite well in
this period of heightened volatility.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
We don't thank you when it goes right, but we'd
be very quick to criticize you when it goes wrong.
That's for sure. You've handled a lot of volume volatility good.
When does volatility become bad?
Speaker 4 (02:18):
Well, I think the one thing to recognize is volatility
in short term volatility.
Speaker 3 (02:22):
That then can resolve itself.
Speaker 4 (02:24):
I think that's something that we've seen, frankly multiple.
Speaker 3 (02:26):
Times over the last five years.
Speaker 4 (02:28):
I think the concern is, of course, is if we
cannot have some certainty in the markets. You know, investors
like certainty, and right now it's a very uncertain environment,
so they tend to take a risk off and attitude
about that. And as we know, we are hoping to
see more companies go public this year.
Speaker 3 (02:44):
We did have forty five.
Speaker 4 (02:45):
IPOs in the first quarter, raising five billion dollars. One
little side fact also, as we had seven companies switched
from New York to NASACK in the first quarter, and
we crossed three trillion dollar threshold of companies that have
switched to NASAK since we starter switch program twenty years ago.
But I also would say though we have a lot
of companies that are looking to go public this year,
(03:06):
and we and right now, of course, investors are not
really in a mode of underwriting a lot of risks,
so we're seeing them take a weight and see attitude
in terms of how to tap the public markets and
when to tap the public markets this year.
Speaker 5 (03:19):
That was a very subtle but well placed a shot
over at the New York's Act Exchange.
Speaker 3 (03:23):
I'm sure that they will be listening.
Speaker 5 (03:25):
I am curious about what that pipeline looks like now
and how much smaller it is now in terms of
IPOs than it was earlier in the year. You know,
there's this big question how much of deal has been
sort of put on hold and how much have they
just been scrapped altogether.
Speaker 3 (03:37):
Do you have a sense of that. I think there
are more being put on hold.
Speaker 4 (03:40):
I mean, we have not seen companies something to decide
they're not going to go public.
Speaker 3 (03:43):
It's really a matter of they've gotten themselves.
Speaker 4 (03:45):
Ready, They've gotten approval, all the approvals they need. It's
really now a matter of just having a weight and
see attitude, and they should be, you know, in terms
of thinking about how can they maximize value for their shareholders,
how can they make sure that they're entering the markets
in an environment that's well welcoming, and that could be
you could find windows and pockets of time throughout the
(04:05):
year to be able to do that, and we did,
as I said, still have forty five IPOs in the
first quarter. So it wasn't like the markets are shut.
It's just a matter of finding those windows of opportunity
within a more volatile environment.
Speaker 5 (04:16):
Do you see companies trying to decide are having a
harder time deciding whether to IPO in New York or
in the United States and the deepest markets of the
world versus somewhere else base the turmoil that we've seen.
Speaker 4 (04:29):
Well, we are really the home to global companies as
well as American companies. The conversations continue to be very constructive, robust,
they're they're very they're very interested in coming and tapping
the American investor and frankly the global investor base.
Speaker 3 (04:44):
I mean the United States.
Speaker 4 (04:45):
We are the most liquid markets in the world, We
have the most the most variety of investors, we have
the deepest pools of liquidity. I think those things are,
you know, constant attractions. In terms of companies who want
to go public again.
Speaker 3 (04:58):
It's really more a matter of time.
Speaker 4 (05:00):
I mean that it's more a matter of when than
if they want to come and tap the public markets
in the United States.
Speaker 1 (05:05):
I was here during Trump's inauguration while you were speaking
to John and Lisa over in Davos, and you are
very constructive on the incoming administration when it came to
the excitement around IPOs, also deregulation. You're pushing for this
regulation overhaul. Are you seeing what you were expecting back
in Davos from this administration now in their first one
hundred days.
Speaker 4 (05:22):
From a regulatory perspective, we are very excited about the
fact that we can work constructively with the regulators that
are coming into with the positions. With Chair Atkins coming
into the SEC, he has deep understanding of the markets.
He has a deep understanding of US capital markets and
also the need for companies to have a good public
(05:43):
company experience and how important that is in terms of
giving citizens access to the growth of our economy. So
we are looking forward to engaging with him. We just
put out a white paper on the need for reform
in the regulatory landscape for public companies to have to
be able to have a life as a public company,
not have it be oh gosh moment, but more I
(06:05):
can't wait moment, And so I think that that's something that.
Speaker 3 (06:07):
We're really looking forward to engaging.
Speaker 1 (06:09):
Chair Atkins on how big is the tone shift from
the Biden administration and Gary Gensler to Chair Atkins.
Speaker 4 (06:15):
Well, he just came into office, so we are going
to introduce ourselves to him. We actually do know him
from when he was a commissioner many years ago, but
reintroduce ourselves to him, and we'll look forward to engaging
with him as he gets going.
Speaker 3 (06:26):
In his new seat.
Speaker 2 (06:28):
You've been through a lot of different market right, James,
How would you describe this one? How unique is it?
Speaker 3 (06:33):
Well, you know, it's funny.
Speaker 4 (06:35):
I have actually been part of many, many market events.
Speaker 3 (06:39):
I've been at NASSAC started a Nazek.
Speaker 4 (06:41):
Thirty two years ago, so I've seen a lot and
this is every single one of them is different. I
have to say, there's no two situations where you see
a lot of volatility that are exactly the same in
terms of the causes of volatility. What we've seen in
terms of the reactions from investors is pretty consistent. You know,
when they know the thing, as I mentioned before, is
that they the thing that they like the least is uncertainty.
(07:02):
And in any period of time where you suddenly have
a big moment of uncertainty, they take the same attitude,
which is a risk off attitude. I'm going to take
take someone positions out of the market. I'm going to
sit and wait and understand what's happening, and then I'm
going to re engage in.
Speaker 3 (07:16):
A smart way.
Speaker 4 (07:18):
That's a very consistent reaction, but the causes of every
single period of market relativity have been different.
Speaker 3 (07:23):
Actually over the last thirty two years.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
Sunny fils unique this moment, that's for sure. Danta, thanks
for dropping by, Thanks you for the time, Thanks for.
Speaker 3 (07:29):
Being with us.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
A data freightman.
Speaker 3 (07:30):
There.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
The chair and CEO of Nasdaq
Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
The outlook for corporates gets harder, American Airlines and Pepsi
joining a growing list of companies trimming or pulling forecast
you to trade uncertainty, NASDAK hoping to provide stability in
this volatile environment, and the nast next Sea. Dana Friedman
joined us now for more. Diana, good morning, good to
see you.
Speaker 3 (00:21):
It's great to see you, great to be here.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Can you describe the last month for us if you can,
just how busy have things been described to volume, the
activity going through your business?
Speaker 3 (00:31):
Well, thanks, thanks for having me.
Speaker 4 (00:32):
First of all, we just announced earnings yesterday, so I
think that shows a little bit of what.
Speaker 3 (00:37):
We've been what we've been working with.
Speaker 4 (00:38):
We had twelve and a half percent revenue growth. We
had double digit growth in each of our three divisions,
and a couple of highlights.
Speaker 3 (00:45):
One is within.
Speaker 4 (00:46):
Our Capital Axis Platforms division, our index business grew twenty
six percent in the first.
Speaker 3 (00:51):
Quarter because of inflows.
Speaker 4 (00:52):
We had twenty seven billion dollars of inflows in the quarter.
Very strong futures volumes as well in our NAS like
one hundred franchise. And then we look at our Fintech
division that grew ten percent, and one of the highlights
there is our anti financial crime business grew twenty one percent,
and that's an important key grower for US. And then
within our market services division, which is our trading business,
that grew nineteen percent in the first quarter because of
(01:14):
record volumes in the first quarter, and we continue to
see those volumes persist and actually grow into April. The
first ten days of April, we had five of the
top six trading days ever in US equities, four of
the top six trading days ever in options, and in
one of the days, like we also measured message traffic
because that's how how many messages our systems handling during
(01:35):
a given day. On the peak day, which was April seventh,
we had five hundred and fifty billion messages flow through
our systems on that single day. So it has been
an incredible period of time from a trading perspective.
Speaker 3 (01:46):
And the one thing.
Speaker 4 (01:47):
To note, because we talked about this earlier, you know,
you don't get necessarily credit for this, but the fact
is that the plumbing within the markets, all of the
markets has done really, really well, hyper resilient. I think
we've all been able to manage this volume extraordinarily. Well,
we're very proud of that at NASAC, and I can
tell you that our markets have done quite well in
this period of heightened volatility.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
We don't thank you when it goes right, but we'd
be very quick to criticize you when it goes wrong.
That's for sure. You've handled a lot of volume volatility good.
When does volatility become bad?
Speaker 4 (02:18):
Well, I think the one thing to recognize is volatility
in short term volatility.
Speaker 3 (02:22):
That then can resolve itself.
Speaker 4 (02:24):
I think that's something that we've seen, frankly multiple.
Speaker 3 (02:26):
Times over the last five years.
Speaker 4 (02:28):
I think the concern is, of course, is if we
cannot have some certainty in the markets. You know, investors
like certainty, and right now it's a very uncertain environment,
so they tend to take a risk off and attitude
about that. And as we know, we are hoping to
see more companies go public this year.
Speaker 3 (02:44):
We did have forty five.
Speaker 4 (02:45):
IPOs in the first quarter, raising five billion dollars. One
little side fact also, as we had seven companies switched
from New York to NASACK in the first quarter, and
we crossed three trillion dollar threshold of companies that have
switched to NASAK since we starter switch program twenty years ago.
But I also would say though we have a lot
of companies that are looking to go public this year,
(03:06):
and we and right now, of course, investors are not
really in a mode of underwriting a lot of risks,
so we're seeing them take a weight and see attitude
in terms of how to tap the public markets and
when to tap the public markets this year.
Speaker 5 (03:19):
That was a very subtle but well placed a shot
over at the New York's Act Exchange.
Speaker 3 (03:23):
I'm sure that they will be listening.
Speaker 5 (03:25):
I am curious about what that pipeline looks like now
and how much smaller it is now in terms of
IPOs than it was earlier in the year. You know,
there's this big question how much of deal has been
sort of put on hold and how much have they
just been scrapped altogether.
Speaker 3 (03:37):
Do you have a sense of that. I think there
are more being put on hold.
Speaker 4 (03:40):
I mean, we have not seen companies something to decide
they're not going to go public.
Speaker 3 (03:43):
It's really a matter of they've gotten themselves.
Speaker 4 (03:45):
Ready, They've gotten approval, all the approvals they need. It's
really now a matter of just having a weight and
see attitude, and they should be, you know, in terms
of thinking about how can they maximize value for their shareholders,
how can they make sure that they're entering the markets
in an environment that's well welcoming, and that could be
you could find windows and pockets of time throughout the
(04:05):
year to be able to do that, and we did,
as I said, still have forty five IPOs in the
first quarter. So it wasn't like the markets are shut.
It's just a matter of finding those windows of opportunity
within a more volatile environment.
Speaker 5 (04:16):
Do you see companies trying to decide are having a
harder time deciding whether to IPO in New York or
in the United States and the deepest markets of the
world versus somewhere else base the turmoil that we've seen.
Speaker 4 (04:29):
Well, we are really the home to global companies as
well as American companies. The conversations continue to be very constructive, robust,
they're they're very they're very interested in coming and tapping
the American investor and frankly the global investor base.
Speaker 3 (04:44):
I mean the United States.
Speaker 4 (04:45):
We are the most liquid markets in the world, We
have the most the most variety of investors, we have
the deepest pools of liquidity. I think those things are,
you know, constant attractions. In terms of companies who want
to go public again.
Speaker 3 (04:58):
It's really more a matter of time.
Speaker 4 (05:00):
I mean that it's more a matter of when than
if they want to come and tap the public markets
in the United States.
Speaker 1 (05:05):
I was here during Trump's inauguration while you were speaking
to John and Lisa over in Davos, and you are
very constructive on the incoming administration when it came to
the excitement around IPOs, also deregulation. You're pushing for this
regulation overhaul. Are you seeing what you were expecting back
in Davos from this administration now in their first one
hundred days.
Speaker 4 (05:22):
From a regulatory perspective, we are very excited about the
fact that we can work constructively with the regulators that
are coming into with the positions. With Chair Atkins coming
into the SEC, he has deep understanding of the markets.
He has a deep understanding of US capital markets and
also the need for companies to have a good public
(05:43):
company experience and how important that is in terms of
giving citizens access to the growth of our economy. So
we are looking forward to engaging with him. We just
put out a white paper on the need for reform
in the regulatory landscape for public companies to have to
be able to have a life as a public company,
not have it be oh gosh moment, but more I
(06:05):
can't wait moment, And so I think that that's something that.
Speaker 3 (06:07):
We're really looking forward to engaging.
Speaker 1 (06:09):
Chair Atkins on how big is the tone shift from
the Biden administration and Gary Gensler to Chair Atkins.
Speaker 4 (06:15):
Well, he just came into office, so we are going
to introduce ourselves to him. We actually do know him
from when he was a commissioner many years ago, but
reintroduce ourselves to him, and we'll look forward to engaging
with him as he gets going.
Speaker 3 (06:26):
In his new seat.
Speaker 2 (06:28):
You've been through a lot of different market right, James,
How would you describe this one? How unique is it?
Speaker 3 (06:33):
Well, you know, it's funny.
Speaker 4 (06:35):
I have actually been part of many, many market events.
Speaker 3 (06:39):
I've been at NASSAC started a Nazek.
Speaker 4 (06:41):
Thirty two years ago, so I've seen a lot and
this is every single one of them is different. I
have to say, there's no two situations where you see
a lot of volatility that are exactly the same in
terms of the causes of volatility. What we've seen in
terms of the reactions from investors is pretty consistent. You know,
when they know the thing, as I mentioned before, is
that they the thing that they like the least is uncertainty.
(07:02):
And in any period of time where you suddenly have
a big moment of uncertainty, they take the same attitude,
which is a risk off attitude. I'm going to take
take someone positions out of the market. I'm going to
sit and wait and understand what's happening, and then I'm
going to re engage in.
Speaker 3 (07:16):
A smart way.
Speaker 4 (07:18):
That's a very consistent reaction, but the causes of every
single period of market relativity have been different.
Speaker 3 (07:23):
Actually over the last thirty two years.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
Sunny fils unique this moment, that's for sure. Danta, thanks
for dropping by, Thanks you for the time, Thanks for.
Speaker 3 (07:29):
Being with us.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
A data freightman.
Speaker 3 (07:30):
There.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
The chair and CEO of Nasdaq
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