Market volatility also played out, as well as the growing share of jumbo deals, usually more sensitive to adverse developments. Amid very supportive conditions for M&A (from the tax reform in particular), weaker deal rationales are also mentioned as a greater source of deal volatility.

Yields on10-year US Treasuries temporarily broke through 3% last week to the highest level since early 2014. We expect rising US wage and price pressures, a more assertive Fed and a higher fiscal deficit to help yields ultimately pass this threshold on a more persistent basis.

As the world's defined-benefit pension funds travel toward two very different futures, a new study by BlackRock marks their progress. The study compares the changes underway at corporate DB plans, which are winding down, with the evolution of public and other non-corporate plans, which are seeking to strengthen themselves for the long run.

During the World Bank-IMF Spring Meetings in Washington, DC, on April 20, Werner Hoyer, President of the European Investment Bank (EIB), acting on behalf of the Global Emerging Markets (GEMs) Risk Database Consortium, and Joaquim Levy the Managing Director and Chief Financial Officer of the World Bank signed a membership agreement, making the IBRD the nineteenth member of the Consortium.

A Memorandum of Understanding to enhance collaboration on sustainable economic development was signed on April 18 by the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and the African Development Bank and formalized during the World Bank-International Monetary Fund Spring Meetings in Washington, DC.