Stock Buyback Addiction Rages Among Companies at War With Bear Market
- US firms on pace for record $1.25 trillion buybacks this year
- Rising demand is vote of confidence in stock, earnings power
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Politicians hate them, the tax collector is coming for them, and credit-market Cassandras say now is not the time to be blowing through discretionary cash. And yet stock buybacks have never been more popular with the constituency that counts: the companies shelling out.
Ten months into 2022, American firms have announced repurchases totaling $1 trillion, up 8% from a year ago and on course for an annual record, according to data compiled by Birinyi Associates.