(Updates 1-3 paragraphs to reflect closing price data).

The beleaguered U.S. IPO market finally had a bona-fide home run Tuesday, with Financial Engines Inc. (FNGN) rising 44% after pricing above its expected range.

The company's stock closed at $17.25 a share on the Nasdaq, up 43.8% from its initial public offering price of $12. A total of 10.6 million shares were sold at a price above its expected $9 to $11 range, set by underwriter Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS).

NEW YORK (AP) - Portfolio manager and advisory firm Financial Engines wants to raise about $106 million in its initial public offering expected this week.

Three out of four companies priced shares within expectations last week, potentially signaling the rough start for the IPO market this year has calmed.

That would bode well for Financial Engines.

More than 60 percent of companies have sold shares for less than they had hoped this year as a volatile stock market made investors wary, according to data from IPO research firm Renaissance Capital.

Next week is shaping up to be a busy one for market debuts with four companies planning IPOs - a sign that the battered sector is again picking up steam. Still, the deals are generating little buzz and the companies may have to cut the amounts they hope to raise.

The more than $600 million that Texas Instruments Inc. spin-off Sensata Technologies Holding BV is looking to raise would make it the largest initial public offering so far this year. But analysts who follow the IPO market say.

- the bottom of the pricing range of its scaled-down initial public offering. it had initially hoped to raise about $350 million, with shares fetching between $14 to $16. weakness in the ipo market due to worries over the pace of the economic recovery

new york-shares of terreno realty are tumbling in the debut of its scaled-back ipo. the san francisco industrial real estate investment trust was originally slated to go public in january with an initial public offering of 15 million common shares

new york-quinstreet corp., an internet marketer that competes with yahoo and google, is the one beacon of hope in this week's crop of initial public offerings as the market contends with jitters spurred by concerns about the economy, and ipos

If the start of the 2010 IPO season is any indication of what's to come, companies that want to go public should brace for nervous investors, unwilling to pay top dollar in a crowded field - and in an uncertain market.

Of the six companies scheduled to have initial public offerings on Friday, just one, life insurer Symetra Financial Corp., could be considered a success. And that was thanks, in large part, to a name Americans recognize - Warren Buffett - being involved. The Omaha investor's Berkshire Hathaway Inc. has a large stake in the Bellevue, Wash. company, holding about 20 percent of its shares after the IPO.

SolarWinds, an Austin, Texas-based maker of network management technology, has ended a nine-month stretch where the market saw zero public offerings from venture-backed companies. The company just finished its first day of trading as SWI on the New York Stock Exchange, and while that probably won't (and shouldn't) end all the wailing about the IPO market, at least it shows that the door isn't closed completely.

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- The much-touted stock-market debut of Rosetta Stone Inc. is living up to its billing, with the language-software maker's initial public offering the first to price above its expected range in nearly a year and its shares on Thursday rising more than 40%

"Rosetta could end up being the best-performing U.S. IPO since fertilizer company Intrepid Potash Inc. rose 58% on its debut in April 2008," said Scott Sweet, senior managing partner at IPO Boutique.

Very surprising news out today in Silicon Valley. Facebook has let go of its chief financial officer Gideon Yu, reports the Wall Street Journal.

Facebook spokesman Larry Yu confirmed to BusinessWeek that CFO Yu will be leaving the company.

Now the big question is why?

The WSJ's Jessica Vascellaro speculates in her story that the company needs to get a new CFO because it is thinking of going public more sooner than expected. The search for a replacement, she writes, is "likely to renew speculation that Facebook, which has previously said it hopes to go public within the next few years, is stepping up plans to do so despite the rocky economy."