Lazard Leads NY Investment Banks Heralding Surge in M&A and Debt

New York’s investment banks are signaling upswings in two business lines that don’t usually take off at the same time: advising ambitious companies on expansions, while helping others drowning in debt.

The rare simultaneous waves of dealmaking and restructurings were the talk of one conference call after another as boutiques including Evercore Inc., Lazard Inc. and Moelis & Co. reported first-quarter results in recent days. It underscores, once again, how enmeshed those firms’ fortunes are with the Federal Reserve’s interest-rate decisions — and how the steepest US inflation in a generation is bending norms.

“With each passing day, ...