Turbulent start for new equity issues The US new equity issue market has had a turbulent start to the year, failing to benefit from a surge in broader markets that would normally spur an uptick in initial public offerings. While Facebook's filing to go public this year has raised hopes that US investors will clamour for access to start-up companies that profit from the burgeoning social networking industry, other growth companies remain subject to investors" broad caution. In January, typically a slow month, only three IPOs priced in the US raising just $242m, against eight deals over the same period last year raising $4.5bn, according to Ipreo, a capital markets data and advisory service. That is despite a decline in US volatility expectations to near post-crisis lows from the highs of the last quarter of 2011. It is somewhat baffling. When you see where the overall market is, that is the tailwind you would need to change investor psychology to a risk-on mentality," said Brad Miller, global co-head of equity syndicate at Deutsche Bank. Though the calendar has been heavier in February, with nine IPOs pricing so far, six have priced below their projected price range, and several had been delayed from the previous week. Of the 21 deals expected at the beginning of the month, 10 have been postponed indefinitely or delayed. Two IPOs that did price, Roundy's, a midwestern grocery chain, and Epam Systems, a central European software outsourcing group, both sold well below their projected range. Ceres, which produces seeds for biofuel crops, has also lowered its offering price for a projected sale this week. Bankers expect conditions to improve after the earnings season, so that companies have full-year figures to show to sceptical investors for attempts at second-quarter IPOs. But mutual funds, typically large buyers of IPOs, remain constrained by little inflow into domestic equity funds. Only $98m has flowed into the market from retail and institutional investors, making hardly a dent in the $138bn that left the funds last year, according to Lipper, which tracks fund flows. Depressed US stock volumes are also holding back demand from short-term investors such as hedge funds, which typically like to "flip" new issues back to retail investors. Another factor said to be suppressing issuance is the looming presence of deep-pocketed, large-cap companies that are increasingly looking at acquisitions to put record cash piles to work.