The highly anticipated “great recovery”of the American economy in 2010 turned into the humdrum recovery of 2010. Key indicators, such as unemployment, which stubbornly averaged 9.6 percent for the year, remained challenged. But there was a sector of the economy that came close to living up to the hype: equity markets.
Not only did the Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index and the Dow Jones industrial average record impressive gains in 2010 of 12.8 percent and 11 percent, respectively, but domestic initial public offering activity was also relatively strong, with volume increasing from 63 IPOs in 2009 to 154 IPOs in 2010, and total proceeds rising nearly 77 percent, to $38.7 billion in 2010, according to statistics compiled by Renaissance Capital LLC.
