The American economy remains finely balanced, with big ticket deals and promised rate cuts on one side, but growth anxieties on the other. Judge for yourself which way it might tip in Deal Drivers: Americas HY 2024, produced by Datasite in partnership with Mergermarket.

As the US is a bellwether for the Americas as a whole, it’s encouraging to see burgeoning deal activity, most notably in the Northeast and Southern regions. It’s a tale of sizes not numbers, with high-value deals making up for modest volumes. As the usual sectors dominate – TMT, Energy, Pharma – there are other robust performers to watch, such as Financial Services.

Outside the US, it’s Canada that proves the top bidder by volume, while its ever-reliable Energy, Mining & Utilities is the second-largest sector in that market by both volume and value. Turning to Latin America, Brazil is steering a counter-course by reducing the pace of rate cuts, while Argentina’s cooling inflation may make it a dark horse in the race.

If the US Federal Reserve delivers the hoped-for interest rate cuts in September, then deal volumes across the region as a whole should start to regain ground. Once again M&A appears to be at an inflection point, with everything to play for.

Find out more in the full report.