FORTUNE — Global merger and acquisition activity is weaker than at any time since 2009, according to preliminary data released today by Thomson Reuters.
Through this past Tuesday, there had been $978.8 billion of announced M&A activity in 2013 — representing a 9% decrease from the same period in 2012. Most of that drop came in Q2, where the $470 billion of volume represents an 8% decrease from Q1 2013 and more than a 28% fall from Q2 2012. In fact, this is shaping up to be the slowest quarter since Q3 2009.
U.S. activity fell by 16% in Q2, but actually remains up by 34% for the year. It also represents more than half of 2013 activity, with $437.1 billion so far. European M&A has fallen by 43% so far this year.
Private equity also is a mixed bag — up 43% for the year but finishing off its slowest quarter since Q3 2010. Not terribly surprising, given that the year’s two largest PE-backed deals — Heinz and Dell (DELL) — were announced in Q1, and nothing of similar size came during the subsequent quarter.
Energy and power has been the top sector for 2013 global M&A, followed by real estate, financials and healthcare.
Goldman Sachs (GS) is atop the M&A advisor league tables for worldwide, U.S. and European activity, with J.P. Morgan (JPM) coming in second. Third-place for global activity went to Morgan Stanley (MS), while BoA Merrill Lynch (BAC) was there for U.S. activity and Deutsche Bank (DB) for Europe.
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