One consequence of higher share prices for U.S. stocks this earnings season is that companies have pulled back considerably from buying back their own shares. New stock buybacks are at their lowest levels in five years, according to TrimTabs Investment Research. An average of just 2.8 S&P 500 companies have announced $1.4 billion in buybacks on a daily basis over the past five weeks of earnings season, the lowest such volume since May 2012.
But there's one area where there's still a lot of interest in buybacks: big banks. Bank of America, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, and Wells Fargo have accounted for a combined 20 percent of all stock buyback volume this year.
In addition to the 20 percent of buyback volume from banks, Apple alone accounted for 9 percent of buyback volume. Apple led buybacks with $7 billion in the second quarter, although that's off from the $10.2 billion it spent on buybacks in the second quarter of 2016.
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