When a company is undertaking an IPO, surprises are not good. The CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) is a measure of the market's 30-day expectation of future volatility. When the VIX is high, the market returns are volatile, which makes pricing an IPO very difficult. When this happens, IPOs slow down. During early 2022, the VIX has been rising due to uncertainty in both the global and domestic economies. As a result, the IPO market has slowed down. In fact, IPOs are only 75 percent of last year's pace.