After a long stretch of avoiding, postponing or scrapping initial public offerings altogether, companies are starting to take a chance on raising money through IPOs of their stock. And investors seem more willing to buy.

Thursday was a good example. Hyatt Hotels, (H) a dominant hotel chain, and Ancestry.com, (ACOM) a throwback to the dot-com era, both launched IPOs.

The deals got a relatively enthusiastic reception, at least compared with what happened to some IPOs the past year. Hyatt's shares gained 12% to $28 after it sold $950 million in stock. Ancestry.com rose 5% to $14.20 after its $100 million stock sale.

The fact both deals fared well provided more proof that the IPO market, while slow, continues to mend. But Hyatt and Ancestry did get a little help from a broad stock rally after the Labor Department said unemployment claims fell, adding another piece of data to recent encouraging news on the economy. The Dow Jones industrial average rocketed 204 points to 10,006, its first close above the much-watched 10,000 level in two weeks.

"We're seeing a healthy IPO market but not an overheated market," says Tim Walker, analyst at Hoover's. Thursday's deals show investors are:

•Welcoming to brand-name, well-funded companies. Unlike companies that need to tap the IPO market to stay afloat, Hyatt has more than $1.3 billion in cash, says Francis Gaskins of IPOdesktop.com. Proceeds from the deal went to stakeholders who wanted to cash out, not the company. "The hotel industry right now is in a decline, but Hyatt is in the best position to be a long-term survivor based on its cash," Gaskins says.

•Shaking off the credit crisis. There appears to be more confidence in the economy, says Nick Einhorn, analyst at Renaissance Capital. "People are looking beyond the recession and making a play on the global economic recovery," he says.

•Willing to take a chance on smaller profitable companies that survived. Ancestry, a website that helps users construct their family trees, proved itself by growing revenue and profit through the recession, Walker says.

Skeptics remain. This year, 45 IPOs have started trading, vs. 43 at the same time last year, but a fraction of the annual average 149 deals through November this decade. "It's great some companies are going public," says Edward Kim of accounting firm Grant Thornton. "But the fact people are excited by that number shows how the goal post has moved."