Since the market for initial public offerings dried up at the end of last year, members of the equity capital markets industry have been confidently talking up the strength of their IPO pipelines. The data suggests they may be telling tales.

The 180-day US IPO backlog is just 56 deals, which are set to raise $12.7bn, according to data from Dealogic. This compares to a pipleline of 207 IPOs set to raise $38.3bn during the same period last year.