More record-breaking stock buybacks in the US

This summer saw a remarkable surge for a usually sleepy earnings season, exclusive data from EPFR show.

Before this year, buybacks in the July/August (2Q) earnings season had never surpassed $6 billion a day. This year, buybacks averaged $7.2 billion daily through the season’s first six weeks. The number of announcements per day was also the second-most in the past decade.

Observers have linked this phenomenon to two trends: strong earnings growth and tax cuts filling corporate coffers — and buybacks becoming a more appealing use of cash than investment given the unsettled global trade landscape. 

Looking at buybacks for all of 2025, the pace has been exceptional as it was in 2024. After setting a record $1.34 trillion in 2024, buybacks are on pace to surpass that historic total. With nearly four months left in the year, announced repurchases are approaching $1.1 trillion, averaging $133 billion per month.

Even if activity slows to $70 billion per month through year-end, buybacks would still set a fresh annual record in 2025. (For perspective, the final four months of 2024 averaged just under $90 billion per month.)

In dollar terms, the bulk of the buybacks have been concentrated in some big names.  The largest 10 buybacks of the year have come from Apple, Google, Nvidia, JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Bank of America, Visa, ASML, Citigroup and Morgan Stanley — together accounting for more than 40% of the year-to-date total.

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