also joining us is r-star deals for order, michelle davis. you heard what paul had to say.you agree there could be a cloud over the m&a market the uncertain you? daniel: the famous thing that dealmakers say is they are cautious mood optimistic but i would say i'm cautiously pessimistic about what the rest of the year will bring. the things that have been dampening down m&a activity look like they will continue for the rest of the year. higher interest rates, uncertainty about the election, the regulatory environment continuing to be a cloud over dealmaking. i think that looking ahead for the rest of the year, we might be facing a lot of the same with the same limited activity that we saw in the first half. >> coming into the year there was a lot of optimism around mega deals but most of them were in the first quarter. why? what happened between then and now? the rate cuts didn't come? daniel: not as quickly as people expected and that affected the market. there is no scientific formula for saying hey, this is what will drive activity, but looking at the current market, righ

we are joined by michelle davis, senior correspondent at bloomberg deals.both of you at a time when deals are finally coming back. before we get to the limitations because there are some, talk to us about what you are seeing in conversations with your clients. jim: mna, we think the stars are aligning for it to be a busy year the second half of the year and beyond. confidence is returning to boardrooms, to siu suites. -- to see suites. companies are willing to make bold bets on mna. the private agree market has not been as active but we feel that is going to be unlocked so we get greater certainty on interest rates and private equity holds additional levers to achieve exits. michelle: there is an election coming up this year as you may have heard and i know you are expecting a pickup in activity. i'm curious what your advice is to clients who are worried about their deal getting caught up in the rhetoric. is there advice around avoiding deals that might be too controversial or high-profile? what is the election impact? jim: you have to separate the noise fr