Equity markets are dying

Equity markets are dying - Matthew Lynn's London Eye - MarketWatch: " . . . IPOs raised just $112 billion worldwide during 2012, according to figures compiled by Bloomberg. That was the lowest level since the financial crisis of 2008. In Europe, they fell to just one third of the 2011 total, whilst in Asia they were cut in half. The U.S. just about held its level thanks to the massive Facebook Inc. FB +0.07% floatation, but given the way that turned out, it is likely that 2013 will see as big a slump in IPOs as that seen in Europe in the year that has just finished. . . . Take the U.S., for example. Between 1980 and 2000, an average of 311 companies went public each year, but from 2001 to 2009 that average fell to just 102 per year. The decline was even more marked among small companies. From 1980 to 2000, 165 of those went public each year, on average, but in the following decade that dropped to only 29 a year. If anything, the trend was even more pronounced in the rest of the world. The numbers of new listings has collapsed in London and across most of the main European bourses. . . . The result has been some dramatic falls in the number of listed companies. . . .  The money that used to go into stocks will have to go somewhere else instead. Where? Some will go into corporate bonds: that is one of the ways ordinary investors can get a slice of the wealth generated by companies. Some will go into venture capital and private equity funds. They offer exposure to small, growing businesses. And some will go into commodities. If you can’t buy into the companies, you can at least buy into their raw materials. But less and less will go into equities because stock markets may no longer be an asset worth owning. . . . "

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