The first effect, by definition, would be declining valuations for public technology companies, immediately crimping M&A plans and delaying some purchases until later.
Funding in early-stage startups declined, valuations fell — in some cases sharply — and the technology IPO market was weak until the very end, undermining prospects for startup exits.
And, of course, bonds have been a lot less volatile than shares along the way.The core of Edwards's argument is that stockmarkets are entering an "ice age", in which the prospect of slow earnings-growth would lead to a decline in valuations.
"This was a challenging quarter, as we saw a marked decrease in client activity and declining asset valuations," Mr. Blankfein said.
Declining market valuations "really remind us of the importance of fundamentals, like getting good management into place.
(See "Psst. Want Wachovia?") On Tuesday, it said it took the $6.1 billion of goodwill charge for items related to "declining market valuations" in its "commercial, corporate lending and investment banking subsegments".
"Despite recent price declines, valuations of [large cap, but recently public technology stocks] still look somewhat excessive by traditional metrics.
Along with the 24 new unicorns, companies already on the list were significantly more likely to have a reported increase in valuation than a decline when raising funding.
In the case of HP's Hurd, his termination left the company without a CEO or a viable strategy, leading to a decline in HP's market valuation of $60 billion, or 55percentt.
That's a $5 billion decline in valuation.
