The number of mergers and acquisitions involving non-U.S. targets so far in 2017 is at its highest year-to-date point than at any other time in the past decade, according to S&P Global Market intelligence. Moreover, the ratio of such deals to mega-deals with U.S. targets is at its highest year-to-date point since 2012.
Data: S&P Global Market Intelligence; Chart: Lazaro Gamio / Axios
Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios
Life in the U.S. is increasingly divided into two realities — one in which things have almost never been better and another in which it's hard to imagine them being worse.
Driving the news: Bankruptcies led more companies to announce job cuts last year than at any time in more than a decade, WSJ's Aisha Al-Muslim reports (subscription), citing data from outplacement firm Challenger, Gray and Christmas.
SoftBank chairman and CEO Masayoshi Son. Photo: Alessandro Di Ciommo/NurPhoto via Getty Images
"The venture capital party is over" was the gist of countless mainstream and social media predictions in October, following WeWork's IPO collapse and SoftBank's difficulties in raising over $100 billion for its second Vision Fund.
Why it matters: They were wrong.
The S&P 500 has jumped 42% under President Trump — according to market data from the inauguration through 2019's final day of trading.
Why it matters: Trump uses the stock market's surge as a barometer of his presidency's success — one that, along with the 50-year low unemployment rate, he's sure to continue to tout as the 2020 election approaches — but the gains under him lag those under former Presidents Barack Obama, when stocks rebounded from the lows of the financial crisis, and George H.W. Bush.