American companies are saving (often overseas), investing in their businesses and buying their own stock, but, with some exceptions (Walmart, Starbucks) they have not been investing in labor.
American companies are running out of places to stash their insane pile of cash
American companies have a very good problem. They’ve got nowhere to put all their money.
Consider that US nonfinancial corporations had just shy of $2 trillion in cash socked away at the end of the fourth quarter. (A fair bit of that money is stashed in overseas accounts that likely won’t come home any time soon due to tax reasons, but still.)
The mountain of cash has grown even as companies have invested heavily in their businesses. Capital expenditures among S&P 500 companies rose 10.3% in the fourth quarter, to a record $192 billion, according to a preliminary analysis by S&P. That’s up more than 17% from the fourth quarter of 2013.
Oh, and they’ve also been devouring their own stock voraciously…
Keep reading American companies are running out of places to stash their insane pile of cash – Quartz.
