Liz Moyer of the Wall Street Journal writes that financial firms have been leading all other sectors in selling stock this year, with AIG and BlackRock [profile] selling the most shares year-to-date.

BlackRock's $4.6 billion offering from May puts the firm in second place, right behind AIG, whose $17.4 billion of share sales are related to the government's sales of its shares in the insurer. Capital One Financial Corp. is in third, having sold $1.3 billion of stock.

On the whole, issuance has been down so far this year. Moyer thinks that the focus on financial issuances is a sign of the slowdown: "When the going gets tough, banks turn to their own to drum up business," she writes.  

Edited by: Chris Cumming


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