Daily Beast

A good way to take the temperature of a changing economy is to look at what kinds of companies are going public. In 2012, initial public offering proceeds fell by almost a third, hammered by domestic slack, uncertainty in the Eurozone, the Chinese slowdown, and the flop of Facebook, the most-hyped IPO in recent memory. Last year, there were 257 American IPOs; so far this year, only 132. As a rule, only companies operating in hot sectors can confidently float public offerings these days. So, for example, as American housing comes back, homebuilder Taylor Morrison Home Corporation recently filed for a $250 million offering; on Friday, Silver Bay Realty Trust will stage a $300 million IPO. And despite the Facebook debacle, almost a third of this year’s American offerings have been...