Wall Street is gearing up for another wave of mergers and acquisitions

Rising inflation pressures and a job market still recovering from the Pandemic are not weighing on Wall Street frenzy for mergers and acquisitions, as banks reported blowout earnings.

Four major U.S. banks said this week they had record quarters of advisory fees, as favorable market conditions spurred dealmaking.

Bank of America BAC saw fees jump to $654 million. The nation s largest bank, JPMorgan Chase JPM nearly tripled advisory revenues to $1.23 billion Morgan Stanley MS more than tripled its fees to $1.27 billion and Goldman Sachs the top M&A shop in Wall Street according to Dealogic raked in $1.6 billion — an increase of 31% quarter over - quarter and 225% year over - years.

Jeff Harte Managing Director Piper Sandler said that investment banking was a big reason why banks were able to easily exceed the Street expectations in what is usually the weakest quarter of the year.

The capital markets are actually quite a bit stronger than I think we expected coming in, Harte told Yahoo Finance Friday.

Deal activity picked up as companies rush to get ahead of any action from the Biden Administration on higher U.S. capital gains taxes. The administration has also taken a stance against consolidation that it sees as anti-competitive, particularly in the banking and technology industries.

It s not just in the U.S. where mergers are picking up; easy money conditions and a desire to adapt to the life after COVID appears to be a worldwide trend that is no longer an issue. Refinitiv data shows global merger activity picked up to a record $1.52 trillion in the three months ended Sept 27, 2007.

The natural question is whether or not the good times will continue in the M&A market.

Within the deal activity, there's a lot of dry powder out there, Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon told analysts Friday.

Solomon added that sponsored activity in M&A appeared to be higher this quarter than in previous years, noting that the boost tends to run a while before dropping off. Until then, the bank chief said he will very closely monitor trends in the space.

It won't sustain at this pace, Solomon said. There will definitely be speed bumps along the way. You can follow him on Twitter at @Bcheungz.