Ask HN: What continues pumping up the us stock markets?

Just one data point: stock buybacks are a big deal.

Naturally, the money inflates the price of the stock and the wealth of the major shareholders, rather than into the company itself.

Wouldn't stock buybacks be a sign the US is in recession, regardless what the media says?

Well, if you have profits, you can put them in the bank, into the company, acquire other companies or buy your own stock.

Of those alternatives, buying stock drives up its price and hence the wealth of the holders, but the big holders gain the most.

I don’t think that the state of the economy has anything to do with it, except that the company presumably makes more profit with a hot economy and more money to play with.

Just my opinion. Open to corrections. An acquisition can be additive, but it’s not a lock.

Same as the Great Recession…it’s about the Speculators and gambling…

170,000 terawatts of free solar energy per day has to go somewhere…

I don't see the relevance to the topic?

where's thew money going to go?

Anticipation

Greed