U.S. dollar volume of merger deals drops 31%

U.S. merger and acquisition dollar volume is down 31% to $667.6 billion so far in 2023, compared to the year-ago level, the London Stock Exchange Group said late Thursday. Meanwhile, global equity capital markets activity is up 11% to $304.9 billion, compared to the year-ago period. China debt capital markets deal-making is down 10% to $1.8 trillion. The Financial Select Sector SPDR ETF
XLF,
+0.25%
is up 2.7% year-to-date and up 5.7% from its year-ago level. The SPDR S&P Regional Banking ETF
KRE,
+1.81%
is down 18.2% in 2023, and lower by 23.6% in the last year.