It's clear that share buybacks have given America's S&P 500 index a "big boost" over the past few years, says Capital Economics. The practice gives equity prices a fillip by increasing earnings per share and adding to the number of buyers in a market.
The S&P 500 Buyback index, which follows the 100 shares with the highest buyback ratios, soared by 240% between early 2009 and the start of 2015. Since then, however, it has underperformed the S&P a relatively rare occurrence, as the bar chart shows. The upshot is that an important tailwind for US equities is abating.
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Adidas, Nike or Jordans - could collectable trainers make you rich?The right pair of trainers can fetch six figures. Here's how you can start collecting vintage Adidas, Nike or Jordans now
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Early bird ISA investors flock to global funds, India and the USThere’s been an increase in investors maxing out their ISA at the start of the new tax year. But where are they putting their cash and why does it make sense to be an early bird investor?
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What would the greatest mathematician of the Middle Ages say about gold today?Sponsored Italian mathematician Fibonacci is most famous for a curious sequence of numbers. Continuing his series on technical analysis, Dominic Frisby explains what these numbers are, and what they can tell us about gold’s next move.
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How moving averages can reveal trades worth betting on – and ones to avoidSponsored Dominic Frisby looks in more depth at how moving averages can help you catch turning points in markets and help you decide which trades are worth pursuing.
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This chart pattern could be extraordinarily bullish for goldCharts The mother of all patterns is developing in the gold charts, says Dominic Frisby. And if everything plays out well, gold could hit a price that investors could retire on.
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Believe it or not, this market is a “buy”Charts With the world in the state it’s in and the market so volatile, buying stocks right now might go against all your instincts. But that’s just what you should be doing, says Dominic Frisby. Here, he explains why.
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Chart of the week: avocados and bitcoin are in syncCharts An amusing new spurious correlation has been spotted between the price of bitcoin and Mexican Hass avocados. In reality, of course, they have nothing to do with each other beyond “superficial price action”.
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Chart of the week: Kuwait's stockmarket is ready for take-offCharts Kuwait's stockmarket is due to be promoted from “frontier” status to an emerging market by index provider MSCI next June. That should entice almost $10bn of global investors’ cash into the country.
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Chart of the week: US stocks outrun profitsCharts The US stockmarket has become totally detached from underlying profits of its constituent companies over the past three years.
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Chart of the week: Dr Copper diagnoses an ailing economyCharts The price of copper has slipped by a fifth this year and is now at a near-two-year low of around $5,600 a tonne.
