August was a bucket of cold water on what was supposed to be the best year for initial public offerings in the United States since 2007. And the tech/social media crowd played a strong role, even if the consumer goods sector was getting most of the credit. With the downgrade of U.S. sovereign debt earlier this month, market volatility effectively brought the IPO market to a screeching halt. Well, that’s the easy way to look at it.

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