How to Build a Market View Before MBA IB Recruiting

A practical routine for turning market news into a simple view on rates, M&A, IPOs, credit, and one sector before MBA IB recruiting starts.

OFFERGOBLIN·7 min read

Most incoming MBA candidates treat market awareness like a late-stage interview chore. That is why the answer sounds fake in October: they read five headlines the night before a coffee chat and try to turn them into a view.

Build the habit earlier. You do not need to become a strategist. You need to be able to hold a normal banking conversation without getting surprised by the words rates, IPO window, credit markets, M&A activity, or sector momentum.

Start in May

In May, the goal is exposure. While you are doing GOBLIN100 and watching OFFERGOBLIN Live, add a lightweight market habit:

Listen to Bloomberg Intelligence a few times per week for company research, sector commentary, and macro context.
Listen to or skim Wall Street Breakfast by Seeking Alpha for a daily market overview.
Write one sentence after each episode or newsletter: what changed, what mattered, or what you did not understand yet.
Keep a running list of terms that keep coming up: rates, spreads, refinancing, IPO window, sponsor exits, strategic buyers, earnings revisions.

You are not trying to sound sophisticated in May. You are building pattern recognition.

What to track

Use the same six buckets every week:

Rates: are rates rising, falling, or staying sticky, and what does that do to valuation and deal financing?
M&A: are strategic buyers active, are sponsors exiting assets, and are boards willing to transact?
IPOs: is the new-issue window open, selective, or basically closed?
Credit: are leveraged loans and high-yield markets supportive enough for buyouts and refinancings?
Equity markets: which sectors are getting multiple expansion or compression?
One sector: pick a sector you could plausibly discuss with a banker and track the major public companies, earnings themes, recent deals, and obvious macro drivers.

The point is not to cover everything. The point is to have a stable lens so the news stops feeling random.

Turn news into a view

By June, write a short weekly market view in plain English. Keep it simple:

One headline on the overall market.
One implication for investment banking activity.
One sector or company example.
One question you would ask a banker.

Example structure:

"Rates are still the gating item for deal activity. Strategic M&A looks more plausible than sponsor exits because financing costs remain high, but high-quality software assets are still getting attention. I am watching whether IPO activity improves because that would signal more risk appetite and give sponsors another exit path."

That is enough. A banker can push on it, and you can have a conversation.

How this shows up in recruiting

Your market view helps with three common moments:

Coffee chats: "What are you following in the markets?"
Interviews: "Tell me about a recent deal or market trend."
Group interest: "Why this sector, and why now?"

The bad version is a memorized headline. The good version connects market conditions to banking activity: rates affect financing, financing affects M&A, IPO demand affects exit routes, and sector trends affect which companies need advice or capital.

How this differs from deal clusters

A market view is top-down. It is your broad read on what is happening in markets and why bankers care.

A deal cluster is bottom-up. It is the specific company-deal-trend package you use when you are targeting a bank, group, or interview round. Later in prep, build those clusters from your market view using the company-deal-trend cluster guide.

Use the sequence this way:

May: listen, skim, and write one-sentence reactions.
June: turn those notes into one or two simple views you can explain.
July and August: connect your views to target banks, groups, sectors, and deals using Early Decisions and Bank Types.
Late prep: filter by the banks and rounds in front of you, and build deal clusters that match those conversations.

If you keep this habit running from May onward, the market question stops being a performance. It becomes something you actually think about.

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