“M&A is high on the agenda,” said Sharon Marcil, North America chair at BCG. “We’re hearing it from so many CEOs.” She pointed to a strong stock market and an overall tilt in Washington toward deregulation and robust business activity.

Winston Weinberg, CEO and cofounder of the legal AI startup Harvey, echoes the sentiment, saying he is hearing that 2026 will be an “insane” year for dealmaking. (Good for lawyers!)

Similar predictions predominated this time last year. The tariff tumult put a pause on M&A early on, but then dealmaking got its mojo back.

Fink took the stage at Davos to welcome more than a thousand chief executives to the World Economic Forum. In his opening remarks, he questioned whether anyone outside the room would care about this meeting of global leaders.

“Because if we’re being honest, for many people this meeting feels out of step with the moment: elites in an age of populism, an established institution in an era of deep institutional distrust,” the BlackRock CEO said.

“And there’s truth in that critique,” he added. “I’ve believed in this forum for a long time. I certainly wouldn’t be leading it if I didn’t. But it’s also obvious that the world now places far less trust in us to help shape what comes next.”

Fink said the capitalism now faces a big test: Whether it can “evolve to turn more people into owners of growth, instead of spectators watching it happen.”

“And that kind of change is hard. Especially in a world of competing ideologies and assumptions about how the system should work,” he said.

Fink’s remarks ground what is expected to be a monumental week, in which deals are made and new alliances are forged amid turmoil in the wider political sphere.