​Last week saw the Bureau of Labor Statistics release nonfarm payroll figures that fell well short of expectations and pulled the three-month average to a 12-month low. Further, the unemployment stayed the same for the third straight month at 3.7%, and wage growth was at 3.1% for the second straight month. The total net worth among U.S. households broke to a record high in the third quarter after a 1.9% rise in net asset values. Last, the Commerce Department released October’s trade deficit report, showing the foreign trade gap widen by 1.7% to a ten-year high.

​According to data provided by Pitchbook, the first week of December saw 17 M&A deals for a reported $9.5 billion in invested capital. These numbers are slightly lower than last week’s 26 deals. The largest deal this week was London-based GlaxoSmithKline’s $5.1-billion acquisition of Boston’s Tesaro, an oncology-focused bio pharmaceutical company. In the week, six of the deals were for targets from the Great Lakes region and seven companies there were purchased were direct-to-consumer businesses.

​Last week, three companies made debuts on public exchanges, raising a total of $801.9 million, mostly on the back of the year’s largest biotech IPO in Moderna Therapeutics. Synthorx, a San Diego biopharmaceutical company joins Moderna as the two healthcare IPOs last week. Rounding out the three is MOGU, Inc., a Chinese online retailer of fashion and cosmetics goods.

​Stocks finished strong on the last day of November, helping major indices move further into positive territory. The S&P 500 closed up 1.8% to 2,760.17, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) ended up 1.7% to 25,536.46, and the NASDAQ closed up 0.3% to 7,330.54. Rumors of easing trade tensions with China on Friday helped the NASDAQ move into positive territory for the month. Only the Russell 2000 is in negative territory for the year. 

​November’s final Consumer Sentiment reading fell more than expected to 97.5 points, continuing a slide off of March’s fourteen-year-high reading of 101.4. New housing starts grew last month amid rising tariff-related costs for builders, driven by new construction of multi-family housing units. Lastly, initial unemployment claims rose suddenly to a four-month high of 224,000, despite continuing claims falling to 1.67 million, a level not seen since the early 1970s.

​According to preliminary data from Pitchbook, last week there were 18 M&A deals for a total of $6.94 billion capital invested. One deal, Colfax’s $3.15 billion bid for DJO Global, was for greater than $1 billion. A total of seven deals were for $100 million to $1 billion. Seven of the eighteen deals involved industrial, infrastructure, or manufacturing companies. The West Coast garnered the most attention with six deals. The following are a selection of last week’s deals within Skyline’s areas of focus.

​Last week, the lone company to go public, TuanChe, a Chinese automotive e-commerce company, raised $20 million. While last week was slow for IPOs, 2019 is anticipated to be the exact opposite. A handful of Silicon Valley’s largest constituents are slated for public offerings, with a few aiming for valuations in the twelve-figure range. Uber, Lyft, Airbnb, and WeWork are headlining the group of Unicorns expected to go public.

​The week ending November 17 revealed Consumer Price Index data that surpassed the Fed’s 12-month 2% inflation target. Also, the Treasury Department says that the Government recorded a $100.5 billion deficit in October 2018, a 60% increase from a year before. Lastly, the New York Federal Reserve reported that U.S. household debt rose to $13.51 trillion, the 17th consecutive quarter of increasing household debt.

Last week, a total of 32 M&A deals took place, with $34.3 billion of capital invested. Six deals were worth over $1 billion, constituting 91.5% of the deal value last week. Eight of the deals were for manufacturing firms, accounting for $15.7 billion capital invested. Another eight companies acquired were information technology firms. The largest deal was a $13.2-billion cash acquisition of Johnson Controls’ Power Solutions Business by Brookfield Business Partners.

​Last week, four private companies made the jump to go public, consisting of two financial companies and two healthcare companies. In total, the four companies – Eton Pharmaceuticals, Vapotherm, Weidai, and Bain Capital Specialty Finance – raised $282.9 million in financing, according to Pitchbook. Bain Capital Specialty Finance, the largest of the IPOs, raised $151.9 million in a spin-off of Bain Capital’s middle market business development division.