Coppo: US vulnerable as buybacks dry up

Richard Coppleson says the US equity market could be vulnerable to a sell off as companies are forced to pause record levels of buybacks. “With US reporting season about to begin, US corporates must cease any share buybacks for the next 6 weeks. The chart shows, that US equity flows have seen substantial and sharp declines during the buyback blackout period during the past 3 calendar years. So far in 2016 we have already seen a massive US$161 billion of buybacks approved – a record amount. So that indicates to me that when these guys go out of the market over the next 6 weeks the US is vulnerable for a big fall.” Coppleson says the risk/reward outlook justifies a cautious approach. “If I’m wrong and the US manages to rally in the next few months we’ll miss maybe 5% upside – but if the US does succumb to a selloff it could be -10% pretty quickly.” See page 7 of the report for more detail: (VIEW LINK)