U.S. Equity Strategy: Buybacks to Remain Strong Amidst Uncertainty Buybacks have been a key theme through this cycle with S&P 500 companies returning ~$5 trillion to shareholders since 2009 and contributing ~2% to annual EPS growth (S&P 500 divisor has fallen to 1999 levels, see Figure 30). Despite the recent market volatility, buyback activity has been very strong during 4Q18…
