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BUYBACKS LIKELY HELPED IN STOCKS' RECENT RECOVERY

Corporate buybacks were likely among the catalysts that helped the U.S. stock market recover from the April lows, writes Adam Turnquist, chief technical strategist for LPL Financial in Charlotte, North Carolina.

S&P 500 companies have a significant amount of stock to repurchase, and they were active in executing those programs in the first quarter, he says in a recent note.

Buybacks tend to boost stock prices because they reduce the number of shares outstanding.

In aggregate, announced buyback programs among S&P 500 .SPX constituents hit roughly $750 billion year-to-date as of June 5, he writes, noting that "this is well ahead of the total authorized repurchase value reached as of early June during prior years."

For example, he writes, by early June 2023 and 2024, companies had only authorized around $600 billion in buybacks.

He says that the bulk of stock repurchase announcements this year were from a few sectors, with $210 billion from communication services, $200 billion from financials and $196 billion from technology.

(Caroline Valetkevitch)

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