On today's episode of Asking for a Trend, Host Josh Lipton breaks down some of the biggest themes and stories from the trading day.

When it comes to merger and acquisition (M&A) activity, Capstone Partners founder and president John Ferrara believes that "we are in an abnormally prolonged M&A down cycle." At this point, he doesn't expect M&A activity in 2024 to be able to catch up to that of 2021, when there was a backlog due to the COVID pandemic. That doesn't mean he is negative, however. "All the fundamental demographics are in place for this bottle to be uncorked," he tells Yahoo Finance, adding that a recovery is "long overdue."

The Biden administration has proposed a ban on Chinese and Russian software and hardware that could be used in internet-connected vehicles. It could result in a ban on some Chinese vehicles from US roads. Meanwhile, the median auto loan repayment has risen 30% since 2019, according to the Bank of America Institute. Bank of America Institute senior economist David Tinsley attributes the rise in auto loan payments to two factors. First, are new and used car prices increased significantly during the pandemic, and are up about 25% since 2019. Secondly, the Federal Reserve's rate hikes manifested in financing rates. "Those two things together mean that if you did buy a new car or a used car and financed it over the last few years, you really have seen quite a hike in your regular auto payments," he explains.

Catalysts anchor Madison Mills takes a closer look at housing affordability and what it means for prospective homebuyers. Yahoo Finance Markets Reporter Josh Schafer also joins the show to break down his top takeaways from the trading day as the Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) and the S&P 500 (^GSPC) closed at record highs.

Finally, Josh Lipton checks in on some of the stocks moving most in Monday's after-hours trading.

This post was written by Melanie Riehl