Despite improving from an abysmal September IPO drought, U.S.-based initial offerings continued to lose ground to last year's pace as deal volumes remained in check in October. For the first time this year, total YTD deal count slipped below the prior-year total as only two IPOs came to market, compared to a whopping 21 last October (2010's strongest month by deal count). Since July, deal volume is down 85% from the comparable year-ago period. Though YTD proceeds are still up y/y, October marked the fourth straight y/y drop in monthly proceeds, with a 93.1% slump to $196.6M last month; Notably, no IPOs have priced above their filing range since July.