U.S. companies continue to buy back stock and pay out dividends
at a blistering pace, helping propel the stock market’s rally to
record levels.  Stock buybacks among S&P 500 companies jumped to
$128.2 billion in the third quarter, the highest level since the
fourth quarter of 2007, according to S&P Dow Jones Indices.
Buybacks rose 8.6% from a quarter ago and 24% from a year
earlier.  Combined stock buybacks and cash dividends totaled
$207 billion in the three months ended Sept. 30, which also
marked the highest level since the fourth quarter of 2007. By
comparison, the latest figure is almost three times the $71.8
billion total in the second quarter of 2009, when the economy
was in the early stages of rebounding from the financial crisis.
The large payouts are boosting investors’ confidence in a stock-
market rally that has pushed the S&P 500 up 27% this year. The
stock index finished Friday at a record high, its 41st of the
year.  S&P Dow Jones Indices  Buybacks have a direct impact on
companies’ share price