Mark Gongloff, Columnist

Enjoy That Lyft While It Lasts

The IPO popped, markets popped, everybody’s happy. For now.

Hooray!

Photographer: Mario Tama/Getty Images North America
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It was another weirdly celebratory day in the stock market, with the S&P jumping to close out its best quarter since 2009 and Lyft Inc.’s IPO enjoying a 9 percent pop.

But stocks are rallying even as the bond market predicts a slower economy, suggesting the party may soon be over. Lyft, meanwhile, now must prove it deserves its $22 billion market valuation by showing it actually has a “viable business,” writes Shira Ovide. In short, it has to figure out how to attract more riders while cutting down on the costs that have left it with a negative-40 percent operating profit margin. Best of luck.