The Art of the Deal: Wall Street Deals Explode Since January 20th

by Robert Carbery
 
Thomson Reuters
 
Since President Donald J. Trump took office on January 20th, almost 3,100 merger or acquisition (M&A) deals have been announced, per recently released data from Thomson Reuters.
 
2017 continues to be the art of the deal as there have already been 13 deals valued at over $5 billion dollars since the Trump administration took charge. Cross-border deals are also at record highs.
 
As the mainstream media continues to decry the mounting political and economic uncertainty around the world as a result of the hard-to-predict Trump administration, the global economy centered around the vibrant U.S. market appears to be doing just fine. While liberals and their friends in the media harp on Trump and Republicans’ failure to pass a free market alternative to healthcare yet, the Donald is putting forward an effort to pass a sizable tax cut to individuals and businesses within the next year.
 
Wake me up when Trump’s tax reform becomes legislation.
 
Markets have gotten shakier after President Trump decided to strike Syria with cruise missiles and drop a really big bomb on ISIS in Afghanistan. Further tensions ratcheting up by the day in North Korea have not helped settle things either.
 
Through all this chaos, the U.S. remains a strong market in many ways and its economy continues to thrive under the brand new administration in Washington DC. The pro-growth and regulation-cutting strategy of Trump’s economic team has resulted in business executives having very high confidence during this time of supposed insecurity.
 
EY, a professional services firm, detailed the current confidence of American CEOs. In its Semiannual Capital Confidence Barometer, the firm surveyed 2,300 corporate executives and found that they view the current economic environment as prime for dealmaking, despite the uncertain backdrop.
 
According to Bill Casey, EY Americas vice chair of transaction advisory services, this is the most healthy deal environment we’ve seen in a decade.
 
With cost-cutting regulation and tax cuts to come from Trump’s economic moves, growth should continue in the U.S. barring an unforeseen global event and deal volume should still accelerate despite many feeling concerned about the near future.
 
The world didn’t burn down after Brexit. Washington DC is still intact after Trump came to town. And France will be fine if nationalist Marine Le Pen wins in the upcoming elections in early May. The mainstream media will blow everything out of proportion and lose touch with reality, as they did in failing to foresee the Trump Train for what it really was.
 
Consumer confidence is high. Corporate executives’ optimism is soaring to new heights. The exploding amount of deals since late January is an encouraging sign. Companies growing exponentially like Seattle-based Amazon, which broke the 350,000-employee mark this year and announced 100,000 more U.S. hires over the next couple years, is another strong sign that the slowdown is still far on the horizon.
 
Jobs. Jobs. Jobs!
 
Let’s keep things moving forward and give Trump the support he needs to make America great again by spurring more dealmaking and further business creation by breaking down barriers to entry.  
 
It’s the economy, stupid.