Goldman: This Is How S&P 500 Companies Will Use Their Cash in 2016
Spending on shareholders is outpacing corporate re-investment.
The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE)
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Companies in the Standard & Poor's 500-stock index will spend $2.2 trillion next year, according to Goldman Sachs.
Goldman's Chief U.S. Equity Strategist David Kostin and his team figure 54 percent of that total spending amount will go toward "growth" activities such as capital expenditure, research and development, and mergers and acquisitions -- up 3 percent compared with 2015. Meanwhile, some 46 percent will be spent returning cash to shareholders in various forms. That's up 7 percent compared with this year.