Wall Street's Middlemen: Why Capital Markets ETFs Are Winning in the M&A Boom

2026-02-19 13:57:00 ET

Investors seeking to gauge the health of the economy and the extent of elevated risk appetite would do well to monitor mergers and acquisitions (M&A) activity. Fortunately, the outlook is encouraging.

With declining interest rates in the U.S. and other parts of the world, global consolidation activity surged 40% last year, and the number of $10 billion-plus transactions hit a record 60. Supported by the artificial intelligence (AI) build-out, expectations of declining interest rates in the U.S., strong corporate balance sheets, and rising appetite, M&A activity is expected to trend higher this year.

If mergers and acquisitions activity surges this year, this ETF could be a winner. Image source: Getty Images

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