The value of global mergers and acquisitions (M&A) fell by 35% in the first half of 2009 to $1,140 billion, according to Dealogic, a financial-analysis firm. The number of deals had been steadily shrinking, but they collapsed by more than 15% in the three months to June. Buy-outs by private-equity firms have been hit particularly hard by the recession. Their value fell by 82% to $24 billion in the six months to June. Australia, the most important location for M&A after America and Britain, saw a big increase in activity in the first half. So did the Netherlands and South Africa. Finance remains the richest industry for M&A, accounting for almost a fifth of deals by value, followed by health care and mining.

...

The wealth of the world’s high-net-worth individuals (HNWIs) fell by almost a fifth last year to $33 trillion, according to the 2009 World Wealth Report from Merrill Lynch and Capgemini. A HNWI has at least $1m of assets besides his main home, its contents and collectable items. In 2008 the number of HNWIs went down to 8.6m, just over 0.1% of the world’s population. Their wealth declined by more than 20% in North America, Europe and Asia, but by a bit less in Africa and the Middle East. Latin America’s rich were the least affected: they lost 6% of their wealth, and the number of HNWIs there fell by less than 1%. In North America, which had a large proportion of people just above the $1m threshold, the ranks slimmed by 19%.

...

The unemployment rate in Japan rose to 5.2% in May from 5% in April. Industrial production jumped by 5.9% in May, after a similar rise in April. Big manufacturing firms were less gloomy in June than they had been in March, according to the Bank of Japan’s quarterly Tankan survey. The percentage balance of firms reporting “favourable” over “unfavourable” conditions rose to minus 48 from a record low of minus 58.

In America the Institute for Supply Management’s manufacturing index rose for the sixth month in a row, to 44.8. Readings below 50 point to shrinking activity but the pace of contraction is at least slowing. Consumer confidence faltered in June after rising in each of the previous three months, according to the index published by the Conference Board, a business-research firm. ...

For many of the world’s big commercial banks, 2008 was a rotten year. The 12 largest losses were made by American and European outfits, four of them German. The Royal Bank of Scotland, Citigroup and Wells Fargo suffered a combined loss of more than $160 billion, a sum larger than the GDP of Egypt. Three of the biggest losses were made by banks from Switzerland and Belgium, two fairly small countries. Firms from France and Japan, countries with big banking sectors, are conspicuous by their absence from the list of losses. The three most profitable banks—Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, China Construction Bank and Spain’s Santander—together made around $55 billion last year.

...