Market’s malaise raising bar for IPOs

“I don’t see people lining up [to go public] Monday,’’ said Mark Selinger, a partner in law firm McDermott Will & Emery, who handles IPOs. “This will create a speed bump for the rest of the month and it remains to be seen what kind of effect it has for the rest of the year.’’

One analyst said he expects many other companies, including Boston-based Carbonite Inc., which recently filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission for an IPO, will likely be forced to slash the share price or postpone the offering altogether because of unsettled markets. Carbonite, which provides online data backup services, had been expected to begin trading next week.

“We have seen the lake lose a lot of its water and all boats are going to drop,’’ said David Menlow, president of IPOfinancial.com, a Millburn, N.J. firm that tracks IPOs.

Many growing companies count on going public to raise additional capital for expansion and hiring. Such stock sales also typically funnel profits to venture capitalists and other investors, who in turn can reinvest the money into newer ventures. But if the IPO market is shut down for a lengthy period, it could put further pressure on the already weak economy and make it harder to bring down unemployment.

The slowdown comes when the IPO market had been storming back from the financial crisis. Last year, there were 154 IPOs completed, up from 63 in 2009 according to Renaissance Capital, a Greenwich, Conn., firm that tracks IPOs. So far this year, the IPO pace was running 19 percent ahead of last year’s tally.

Some of the best known IPOs this year, including Dunkin’ Brands Group and Cambridge-based Zipcar Inc., are based in Massachusetts. Both trade on the Nasdaq Stock Market.