Just under 900 deals were announced in the U.S. in January. That compares with more than 1,200 transactions in the previous January and over 1,500 two years ago.

Microsoft, Google and Meta Platforms have projected combined capital expenditures of at least $215 billion for their current fiscal years, an annual increase of more than 45%. Amazon.com didn’t provide a full-year estimate but indicated that total capex across its businesses is on course to grow to more than $100 billion, and said most of the increase will be for AI.

Private equity returned a median annualized 15.2% over the 10-year period ended in 2023, versus 12% for the S&P 500 index.

Opportunistic real-estate funds had $196.8 billion available at the end of last year, up from $179.9 billion at the end of 2020.

After peaking above 5.6% in 2022, core PCE inflation fell to 2.6% last June but then reaccelerated. The Fed wants to see PCE inflation fall back to its 2% target, but in December, officials projected that still might take until 2027.

All three major ratings firms provide equity credit for hybrid bond issuances, largely treating them as if they were made up of 50% equity—a boon to the issuer’s credit ratios and ratings. What makes the bonds equity-like is the option for companies to defer coupon payments, as well as the bonds’ ability to absorb losses in the event of a bankruptcy.

Investors poured $62.5 billion into U.S. equity mutual and exchange-traded funds in December, the highest monthly inflow on record.

The equity risk premium, defined as the gap between the S&P 500’s earnings yield and that of 10-year Treasurys, turned negative in late December for the first time since 2002 and sat last week at negative 0.15 percentage point.

Public pension plans, university endowments and charitable foundations have about doubled their investments in private-equity funds since 2018. North American private-equity funds now manage some $4 trillion in assets.

The top 20 hedge-fund managers oversee about 20% of industry assets but are responsible for an estimated 32% of industrywide net gains.