​For the month of August, nine U.S. companies made debuts on American stock exchanges, raising a combined $1.88 billion, according to data from Pitchbook. The figures are down slightly from July, when there were 15 IPOs totaling $2.08 billion in capital raised. As for the calendar year-to-date, $25.6 billion has been raised through 117 IPOs, up from the $22.7 billion raised in the same period of 2017. 

​For August, the U.S. posted surprising job figures, adding more jobs than expected and finding the wage inflation that has been missing for so long. Further, the unemployment rate maintained at consistent levels. Lastly, the ISM Purchasing Manager’s Index was released for August, registering at its highest level in 14 years.

​According to Pitchbook, mergers and acquisitions activity last week led to $12.29 billion in invested capital across 34 deals. The financial services sector led the way with $5.58 billion among only three deals. However, business-to-consumer firms announced nine deals, worth a disclosed $285 million. 

​Last week, two Bay Area biotech firms, Guardant Health and Kodiak Sciences, filed prospectuses with the SEC for IPOs. Both firms cited a $100 million fundraising goal. However, the New York Stock Exchange and the NASDAQ did not list any new companies last week.

​The Dow Jones Industrial Average (Dow) and S&P 500 had their best August since 2014, closing up 2.2% to 25,964.82 and 3.0% to 2,901.52, respectively. The Nasdaq, which finished the month up 5.7% at 8,109.54, had its best August performance since 2000. During the month, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq reached record highs.

​Last week, the Bureau of Economic Analysis updated its original estimate of second-quarter GDP growth, the U.S. Census Bureau announced the July trade deficit reversed its spring and summer trend to widen to a five-month high, and the Consumer Confidence Index for August spiked dramatically to an 18-year high. 

​According to preliminary data from Pitchbook, a total of 27 M&A transactions were completed last week, resulting in $6.03 billion in capital invested. Overall, the business-to-business sector had the most deals at six, while the healthcare space conducted the most deals on a dollar-value basis with $1.84 billion. The following are notable deals from the week, headlined by Coca-Cola’s acquisition of coffee chain Costa and Stryker’s acquisition of K2M.

​Last week, public markets saw no introductions of private companies to public trading. However, two Silicon Valley heavyweights, Lyft and SurveyMonkey, took steps to advance their IPO ambitions.