The economy is slowing, interest rates are rising.

Markets are volatile and geopolitical tensions are high.

For corporations, that's a recipe for shrinking revenue and profits.

Companies are dealing with incrementally higher input costs and the key question

for investors is going to be whether companies will be able to sustain these

record profit margins as growth slows but those input costs continue to

rise. I'm Allison Nathan, and this is exchanges at Goldman Sachs. A challenging macroeconomic backdrop is putting pressure on companies bottom lines.

So how are management teams responding?

Many companies are looking to create value for shareholders

through spin-offs, separations, and carve-outs. In this episode we'll dig into the

outlook for corporate profits, the landscape for corporate restructuring, and what this all means for deal-making.

To do that, I'm joined by Ben Snyder, senior strategist on the U.S. portfolio strategy team in

Goldman Sachs research, and David Dubner, global Head of M&A Structuring

within the Investment Banking Division.

Ben, David, welcome to the program.

Thanks, Allison.

Great to be here.

Thank you, Allison.

Ben, first just give us a sense of the macro headwinds that U.S. companies are facing today and how they are beginning to navigate them.

It's definitely been a volatile macro environment to start the year, and I think the headwinds are pretty clear.

Growth is slowing.

If you look at our economic forecasts

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