To me, the increasing buyback trend is an indicator that the US economy is effectively nearing a peak and the underlying economic model that depends on infinite growth is going to need rework in the not too distant future. Companies generally do buybacks when they don't have any productive use of their profits that would contribute to fundamentals (and thus boost share price the old-fashioned way). Companies are piling up profits and then realizing that it's easier to boost share price by just buying their own shares than by investing in more long-term things.
As per-worker productivity increases and wages continue to see only modest gains this trend is likely to continue. That's worrying for the vast majority of Americans who aren't executives or shareholders.
As per-worker productivity increases and wages continue to see only modest gains this trend is likely to continue. That's worrying for the vast majority of Americans who aren't executives or shareholders.