One of the enduring mysteries of life, other than the fact that Kanye West is Bruce Jenner’s son-in-law, is getting a handle on deal supply in the leveraged loan markets.

By the numbers, the forward institutional pipeline has been drifting south since Labor Day. According to S&P Capital IQ, last week’s calendar stood at $40 billion, up slightly from the $35 billion low point at Halloween.

Actual institutional loan volume is up to $400 billion, per Thomson Reuters LPC, with full year numbers close to $500 billion. Impressive, but well short of last year’s $639 billion.

M&A stats generally also point to very healthy flow. Global volume has topped $3.2 trillion (Dealogic); the best performance since 2007, and significantly ahead of 2013. The same holds true for financial sponsor-related activity. YTD 2014 volume is just shy of $700 billion; again, best in seven years.