In the past six months, three studies have been published on the declining role of the US in global capital markets. This decline is often blamed on the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (Sox, passed in 2002). But the US share of the global market for initial public offerings has been falling since the late 1990s. Hence this decline could not have been primarily due to Sox. Instead it resulted from a mix of factors including improvements in non-US markets and the threat of US litigation.

The main factor in market selection for global IPOs is the country where the issuer has its headquarters. Of the 10 largest global IPOs in 2005, eight were headquartered in China and Europe, so they launched in the Hong Kong and European markets.