U.S. M&A deal activity decreased in March, going down 5.9% with 892 announcements compared to 948 in February. However, aggregate M&A spending increased. In March, 49.9% more was spent on deals compared to February.

• In terms of M&A deal activity, 5 of the 21 sectors tracked by FactSet saw an increase in M&A deal activity over the past three months relative to the same three-month period one year ago: Technology Services (747 vs. 648), Health Technology (121 vs. 96), Energy Minerals (26 vs. 19), Miscellaneous (18 vs. 13) and Government (1 vs. 0).
• On the other hand, 16 of the 21 sectors tracked by FactSet saw a decrease in M&A deal activity over the past three months relative to the same three-month period one year ago. The five sectors that witnessed the largest declines in M&A deal volume were: Commercial Services (393 vs. 533), Finance (489 vs. 621), Consumer Services (143 vs. 246), Distribution Services (120 vs. 209) and Producer Manufacturing (165 vs. 216).