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.
Sign up for our daily email newsletter on deals and deal-makers: GetTermSheet.com