Bay Street
Things went from bad to worse for investment bankers in October as the flow of equity financings dried up.
August and September were rough months for banking, as evidenced by today's release of quarterly results from GMP Capital (that story is here). October was even rougher, at least when it came to equity financings.
TMX Group , the owner of the TSX, reported that TSX-listed companies raised $2.1-billion with equity financings in October, down from $4-billion in September and $3.9-billion in October, 2010.
Thanks to a strong start to 2011, total TSX financings for the year to date are still up 5.1 per cent from the first 10 months of last year.
Things were little better on the TSX Venture Exchange, where financings fell to $408-million in October from $766-million a year earlier. Again, though, the year-to-date numbers are saved by a busy first few months of the year. Total TSX Venture financings for the first 10 months of the year stand at $9-billion, up from $6.6-billion last year.