Recession? No recession? Something in the middle? It's dizzying to track the financial headlines, and hard to know where the economy is headed.
That's meant securing financing for M&As has also been more and more difficult.
In a recently released report, Boston Consulting Group (BCG) called it "the most challenging environment for M&A since the financial crisis."
But in every crisis is an opportunity -- at least for the players that have positioned themselves properly.
Though the overall M&A market has cooled -- according to the BCG deal volume was down 13 percent through mid last year -- there's another statistic that indicates buyers have more leverage than ever.