Acquisitions of U.S. companies by foreign companies has cratered in the early days of 2017, according to Standard & Poor's. It finds that there has been just $3.8 billion of such transactions so far this year (or 5.5% of total U.S. M&A), compared to more than $48 billion through the same period in 2016 (spurred on by Shire's $36 billion purchase of Baxalta).
Richard Peterson of S&P Global Market Intelligence, writes in a research note:
The current results mark the slowest start to foreign buying in the U.S. since 2004, when deal value totaled $0.51 billion, or less than 1% of the $77 billion in announced deals at that time.