A number of U.S. companies have announced an increase in share repurchases, bolstering sentiment and exchange traded funds that focus on the share buyback strategy.
In December, Facebook Inc., Mastercard Inc., Lowe’s Co s., AbbVie Inc., United Rentals Inc. and Pioneer Natural Resources Co. are among the companies that have revealed bigger or resumed share buybacks this month, the Wall Street Journal reports.
S&P 500 companies spent a record amount on buybacks over the third quarter, investing roughly $200 billion back into their own company shares.
“Corporations have been a large, incremental buyer. That’s had a very large impact on equity market returns over the last few years,” Wasif Latif, head of global multiasset investing at USAA Asset Management, told the WSJ. “It seems like that large upward pressure is going to continue to be there.”
Some U.S. corporations have pointed to uncertainty over tariffs as a major contributing factor that affected their spending decisions. Consequently, many companies have slowed the pace of spending on equipment, factories and other capital goods, even with the U.S. economy performing better than it has in years.