The Market Hit A Record High, so who's buying the stocks?

[planosteve]

Is it hedge funds? Nope. They are selling.

How about retirement funds? Not this time. They are selling.

How about insurance forms? Nope. Sellers.

Insiders! They know a good thing when they see it! They do, indeed. They are net sellers.

Then it must be foreigners. Sorry. They are selling.

Then who? Corporations, mostly. They are using business profits to buy back shares.

Individuals also buy, but not as much as corporations.

We have not seen this much buying back of corporate shares in years. Specifically, not since since 2007. That was the #1 year for corporate buy-backs.

You may recall what happened in 2008.

But why do they do this? What value does this add to plant capacity? To marketing? To innovation? None.

But it runs up stocks in stock option deals. Who has such deals? Senior management.

Who make the decision to buy back shares? Senior management.

So, stocks go up, yet corporate capital is being depleted. Is that it? Yes.

But isn’t this like eating your seed corn? Yes. But whose seed corn is it? Not senior management’s. They will be replaced soon enough. Turnover is inevitable. The question is: Can they time their exit correctly?

I believe this is the phrase: “Take the money and run.”

Timing is everything when it comes to stock options and retirement.

There is always the old maid. Pass her on!

http://money.msn.com/top-stocks/post--t ... est-driver

[GFB]

Well, first of all..this article is a week old..the market was down today..noticeably...but..

..besides that..is this supposed to make us happy?..sad?..angry?..elated?..help me out here.

[GFB]

..and besides the besides..are you saying that the down market of 2008 and 2009 was due to some corporations buying back their own stock?

..IT WASN'T THE FED??????

[Bob Of Burleson]

U.S. Stocks Decline
From Records Amid
Rate Speculation

By Joseph Ciolli
Bloomberg.com

U.S. stocks fell from records, led by a plunge among small companies, as investors weighed valuations and speculated the Federal Reserve may raise interest rates sooner than expected.

GT Advanced Technologies Inc. sank 16 percent after Canaccord Genuity Group Inc. downgraded the stock to hold from buy. Expedia Inc. slid 1.7 percent after agreeing to make a $658 million acquisition. Peabody Energy Corp. fell 3.7 percent to lead energy producers lower. PetSmart Inc. gained 2.5 percent after a second large shareholder prodded the company to consider selling itself.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index fell 0.4 percent to 1,977.65 at 4 p.m. in New York. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (INDU) dropped 44.05 points, or 0.3 percent, to 17,024.21. The Russell 2000 Index of small companies slid 1.8 percent, the most since April. About 5.1 billion shares changed hands today on U.S. exchanges, 14 percent below the three-month average. U.S. equities markets were closed July 4 for the Independence Day holiday.

“Rates are going to go up before people expect,” Tom Stringfellow, president and chief investment officer of San Antonio-based Frost Investment Advisors LLC, which manages about $10 billion, said in a phone interview. “And when rates do go up, I expect some sort of a knee-jerk reaction. But I don’t believe for a moment that the Fed’s going to raise rates at a speed that derails this stable environment.”

Both the S&P 500 and the Dow average advanced 1.3 percent last week, with the 30-stock gauge closing above 17,000 for the first time, as monthly payroll addition exceeded 200,000 for a fifth month in June.

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