In China, IPO Mania In Full Force

Earnings, IPOs, and the like

from the spike-it dept

Although the IPO market in the US has come strongly back to life, there’s still no sign that things are wildly overheated like they were during the bubble. Although profit-less companies are managing to go public, investors seem to be discerning between quality and junk once the shares begin trading. But, if you’re looking for a wild IPO market, check out what’s going on in China these days. New offerings in Shanghai are routinely seeing massive first-day spikes, just like dot come stocks 7 years ago. Of course a rash of these deals signifies an inefficient market, as the newly public companies leave a lot of money on the table. On the other hand, public market investors go crazy over these spikes, because they look like instant wealth creation. And in China, going crazy they are, as the stock market has become a national obsession, with people taking on massive personal leverage in order to invest. So while things may look okay here, from a global perspective, there are signs of madness once again.