​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.

​Private equity activity, in line with M&A spending, made a sudden upward spike in October, climbing 137% from September and 228% from October 2017 to $68.8 billion, the highest monthly level in 2017 and 2018, as shown by preliminary data supplied by Pitchbook. Like M&A activity, the jump in private equity spending appears to have been driven by 17 deals worth over $1 billion, which accounted for $58.6 billion, 85.2% of the monthly total. 

Based on preliminary data from Pitchbook, venture capital firms invested 6.7% more capital in October than in September, rising from $10.5 billion to $11.2 billion. However, deals were larger, as total deals counts fell by 85 to 707, a 10.7% decline. This trend of fewer deals but more invested capital has been continuing for three months now, constituting a 52.8% increase in capital per deal over the period.

​In October, the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis released their third quarter gross domestic product report, showing the economy grew at a 3.5% annual rate, faster than the 3.4% expected rate. The growth comes on the heels of strong consumer spending of 4.0% and low inflation of 1.6%, as provided by the Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) price index. The report comes out as concerns continue to escalate regarding rising interest rates and tightening trade restrictions.

​Total announced dollars spent on mergers and acquisitions activity spiked suddenly last month, reaching the second-highest mark for the calendar year on the back of a few mega-deals. Corporations and buyout firms announced total acquisition expenditures of $293.6 billion on 873 deals, a 272.0% increase from one year prior and a 218.1% spike from September, per preliminary data supplied by Pitchbook. The spike may be attributed to a high concentration of deals for more than $1 billion. $270.7 billion, or 92.2% of capital was for ten-figure deals.