Bats Global Markets

After a year which featured lingering economic uncertainty, and underperformance from many popular IPOs, 2012 should see some exciting activity from the more than 200 companies hoping to go public. Here are 24/7 Wall St.'s picks for the top IPOs to watch.

The fabled New York Stock Exchange isn't what it used to be. Today's NYSE Euronext has lost a huge volume of trading to upstart computerized exchanges in recent years, and scandals have tarnished its luster. Now, Germany's Deutsche Boerse wants to buy control of it. I say: "Sell!"

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is considering a rule to ban flash trading, in which computers fed with order information trade stocks moments before the exchange executes those orders. Conceptually, it sounds like an open and shut case of insider trading to me. The SEC's thoughts on...