Wild market swings knock out IPOs

The stock market's wild daily swings this month have knocked out the market for initial public offerings. So far in August, companies have pulled deals at a pace not seen since December 2008, and only four companies have gone public.

Data collector Dealogic says that 17 deals have been cancelled, whether postponed indefinitely or withdrawn completely.

In December 2008, companies nixed 18 deals. The IPO market was going in to deep freeze following the collapse of Lehman Brothers and the spiralling financial crisis.

Dealogic says the four deals so far in August are likely to be it for the month, making it the slowest since July 2009.

Prior to August's slowdown, this year had been expected to be the strongest for IPOs since before the recession began.