But can someone explain this kind of statement that I read quite often? "Big deals - many of them by private equity buyers - have helped power the stock market's recent rally, but the best days of the buyout boom may be over...The wave of private equity deals has helped drive merger activity, which in turn has helped the stock market claw its way back from a sharp selloff in late February. " http://money.cnn.com/2007/04/20/markets/deals/index.htm Why do these deals fuel a market increase?? I just don't see how these add value to the market as a whole? (In fact, quite the opposite.)