Perhaps it was because companies knew higher the Federal Reserve was going to raise interest rates, but S&P 500 members boosted share repurchases in the third quarter in significant fashion. S&P Dow Jones Indices said Monday S&P 500 companies increased third-quarter buybacks by 14.5 percent to $150.6 billion.
"Year-over-year comparison shows that share repurchases have increased 3.7% over the $145.2 billion reported during the third quarter of 2014," said S&P Dow Jones Indices in a statement.
Even with the third-quarter buyback bonanza, the PowerShares Buyback Achievers Portfolio (NYSE: PKW) is down 6.4 percent this year. That puts the popular PKW in jeopardy of lagging the S&P 500 for just the third time in the past seven years. What is arguably more notable than the fact that PKW beat the S&P 500 four times from 2009 to 2014? The margins. As in, ...
/www.benzinga.com/trading-ideas/long-ideas/15/12/6066888/buybacks-surged-in-the-third-quarter alt=Buybacks Surged In The Third Quarter>Full story available on Benzinga.com
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