Corporate Stock Buybacks ‘Providing a Buoy’ for the Market

U.S. stocks have received support from a key source during 2023’s shaky market environment: companies repurchasing their own shares.

Wall Street Journal reached out to VerityData‘s Ben Silverman for insight.

“Buybacks continue to be robust and provide a buoy for individual stocks and the market broadly,” said Silverman.

Stock buybacks by companies in the S&P 500 are projected to top $1 trillion in 2023 for the first time in a calendar year, according to S&P Dow Jones Indices. Authorizations for repurchases are picking up pace: As of Feb. 17, they totaled more than $220 billion, a record for that point in the year, according to a Goldman Sachs analysis of S&P 500 and Russell 3000 companies.