For the first time in a decade, Corporate America is steering more money into stock buybacks than investing in the future. In fact, Goldman Sachs said that buybacks are garnering the largest share of cash spending by S&P 500 firms. It's a milestone because capital spending had represented the single largest use of cash by corporations in 19 of the past 20 years. The Republican tax law, enacted in late 2017, slashed the corporate tax rate from 35% to 21%. Microsoft (MSFT), Intel (INTC) and Micron (MU) are also accelerating their capital spending.

Source: CNN September 17, 2018 19:07 UTC