America as Number Two:Hong Kong again beat the NYSE in new stock offerings in 2011.

The Wall Street Journal reports:

One reason the U.S. economy isn't creating enough jobs is that it's not creating enough employers. After another dismal year in 2010 for American initial public offerings (IPOs), some had predicted a strong 2011. But now the results are in and as the Journal reported last week, "the comeback never came." Fewer companies went public in 2011, and the offerings raised less money.

For the third year in a row the world's leading exchange for new stock offerings was located not in New York, but in Hong Kong. And even without counting Hong Kong's $31 billion in deals, the various exchanges on the Chinese mainland slightly exceeded the $41 billion combined total of Nasdaq and the New York Stock Exchange, according to Dealogic.

A worrisome trend. Thanks Sarbanes-Oxley!