With a diminishing number of deals in the last month, the gap between deal values this year compared with each of the last two years has shrunk. In August, 2022 deal values were ahead of 2021 by 7% and of 2020 by 2%. Now, in early September, they are ahead of last year by 0.6% and behind 2020 by 3.5%. Volumes, which were down by 23% last month, are now down by 26%.