The bad dream that was the second half of 2000 in the European equity capital markets turned into a full-blown nightmare in the first quarter of this year. Fragile investment bankers should look away now because the numbers do not make happy reading.

Total issuance volumes in the first three months of the year fell by more than 52% to only €24.6bn ($21.8bn) compared with a year ago. The market for IPOs is even worse. With only 42 IPOs across Europe, the market is running at its lowest level since early 1996, and a staggering 74% below last year's dealflow. At €9.7bn, the combined value of IPOs is little more than a third of the dizzy first three months of last year.