Weekly Market Updates: 05/13/19

Maker of Samuel Adams Buys Delaware Craft Brewery

Data from Pitchbook shows that $84.5 billion was invested in 33 deals across American M&A markets last week, 10 more deals and $71.1 billion capital than the week prior. Four of those deals were for over $2.5 billion, including $38-billion and $23.3-billion-dollar deals, both of which were in the energy space. Another deal that caught significant media coverage was that of Boston Beer Co., the brewer of Samuel Adams brand beers, which paid $300 million to acquire Dogfish Head Brewery, a craft beer maker from Milton, Delaware. Dogfish produces over 250,000 barrels of beer annually.

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Uber Finally Goes Public Alongside Eleven Other Firms

Last week, according to the NYSE, U.S. public exchanges saw a flurry of IPO activity, 12 offerings that raised $9.4 billion in funding. Uber was one of those twelve firms, raising $8.1 billion of funding. Other large IPOs of the week include HeadHunter Group, a Russian online recruitment platform, and Parsons Corporations, a technology solutions group for the defense and infrastructure industries. 

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Inflation Holds at a Neutral Level in April; Mortgage Applications Increase on Lower Borrowing Costs

Among economic news last week:
 

• Consumer prices rose 0.3% during April, according to the Labor Department, after rising 0.4% in March. Rising gasoline prices, rents, and healthcare costs drove April’s increase, but excluding volatile energy and food costs, the CPI bumped up only 0.1%. Through the 12 months ending in April, the CPI and core CPI increased 2.0% and 2.1%, respectively. The Fed has a target of 2% on another inflation measure, but Fed Chairman Powell has suggested weak inflation may be reason to avoid adjusting monetary policy at this time.

• After falling sharply from 4.8% to 4.5% in February, the job openings rate bounced back to 4.7% in March, according to the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Overall, job openings rose 4.9% to 7.5 million, while hires and separations changed little at 5.7 million and 5.4 million, respectively. Growth in openings combined with an unchanged hiring rate signals a growing labor shortage that could inhibit employment growth later this year.
  

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• According to the Mortgage Bankers Association weekly assessment, U.S. mortgage applications rebounded 2.7% from a 407.2 reading, which was the lowest since March 15. Loan requests for home purchases picked up as borrowing costs have fallen slightly during the spring. The gauge is a positive sign for the last week in the spring home-buying season.