Thomson Reuters
- The prospect of interest rates staying high has weighed on corporate stock buybacks.
- Bank of America said US stock repurchases have dipped 3% in the third quarter, after a 26% drop the prior quarter.
- Strategists said that looking ahead, weaker debt issuance suggests buybacks will remain muted.
The Federal Reserve's aggressive rate-hiking campaign that began in early 2022 marks the end of the over decade-long era of easy money, and companies no longer flush with cheap debt are pulling back on another driver of gains as a result.