Low interest rates and $1 trillion in cash sitting on U.S. corporate balance sheets add up to many companies looking to do an M&A deal this year. Forty-two percent of CEOs surveyed by PricewaterhouseCoopers say they're planning to complete a domestic deal this year. Thirty percent say they completed a domestic deal in 2012.

CEOs in the U.S. are more intent on M&A in 2013 than their global peers, says PwC, and they're concentrating on consolidation and expansion in the U.S. market. For now, things are restrained, but the “fundamentals for growth in the deals market are in place.”