What does Microsoft's $7.2 billion purchase of Nokia have to do with Verizon's $130 billion repurchase of its own business from Vodafone? They reflect the end of a period of historically low interest rates in which debt was cheap and big companies' stockpiles of cash ballooned. As the financial crisis recedes, tech giants are eager to put that money to work, and they want to do so before rates increase.

Verizon paid substantially more to buy out Vodafone than it wanted, but the price was made more affordable because the interest rate on the money it had to borrow was so low. "Verizon has wanted its stake back for years but the price has always been too high," says Jackson. "Do they pay $130 billion now with lots of debt or pay $200 billion in a few years at higher interest rates?" Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam asked, confirming this rationale to The Wall Street Journal. "The opportunity really crystallized because of the capital markets. It was really a perfect storm from the financial perspective, on the positive side."

The distorting effects of cheap debt on tech companies' actions can be seen clearly with Apple as well. As The Verge reported in April, it was actually more efficient for Apple to issue $17 billion in debt to buy back stock than it was to use part of the $145 billion it had on hand. This is partially because bringing overseas cash back into the states means having to pay taxes, a much higher rate than interest. Meanwhile international pressure is growing to put an end to the loopholes that allow companies to shelter cash in foreign accounts.

Many expect more big deals will get done in the coming months. "Apple, Cisco, and many others are also in this same boat," says Jackson. "I expect we will continue to see lots of foreign M&A as well as mega-mergers before the end of the year."