As first quarters go, this one could have been a good deal better, say the many bankers who have kindly stopped to e-mail us between transcontinental flights as they scour the world for a drop of water on the desert that is the global deal drought. What appeared to be a serious, if passing, dry spell at the beginning of the year has now ended up knocking the bejesus out of Wall Street financiers in ways they never could have imagined. Here’s to a more auspicious second half as we assess this quarter’s official damage report.

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