Ready to ride the growing M&A wave?

Shall we consider this an indicator that the economy will do more than OK this year and next?

The research team at EY Parthenon has updated its 2026 forecast of U.S. merger-and-acquisition activity to be 8% above last year, when deal volume was up 15% from 2024. EY Parthenon’s previous prediction for was for growth of 3%—which was a bit more cautious than overall sentiment—but Chief Economist Greg Daco said Feb. 10 that “firmer US GDP growth, resilient corporate profits, and supportive financial conditions” are giving C-suites the confidence to commit to deals.

The eye-popping stat: Since September, the share of U.S. CEOs telling EY Parthenon that they plan to pursue M&A in the next 12 months has jumped from 35% to 62%. That’s a strategic warning shot across the bow of leadership teams more inclined to hold station.

“Acquirers are prioritizing deals that defend margins, secure critical inputs and reduce excessive dependencies,” Daco and his team wrote. “Vertical integration has therefore emerged as a central theme across sectors, alongside portfolio reshaping to reinforce resilience and pricing power.”

How do things look in other parts of the world? The research team at PitchBook says deal activity this year is likely to be uneven globally but concentrated more in markets that have stable legal and financial systems.

“With the environment fundamentally more uncertain, it is not a simple cyclical recovery, making deals more complex and exposed,” the analysts wrote in their recently published Global M&A Report. “U.S. and European deals are expected to remain dominant, APAC will see selective growth, and Latin America will likely remain a niche market.”