A force is about to return to the stock market that could 'chase equities higher' S&P 500 companies will execute $800 billion in buybacks and return an additional $500 billion through dividends this year, J.P. Morgan's U.S. stock strategist writes. "Despite the recent market volatility, buyback activity has been very strong during the fourth quarter and we expect it to remain robust," writes Dubravko Lakos-Bujas. Canaccord Genuity echoes that call, saying that equity prices are "near the point" where buyback desks would likely feel the pressure to purchase and "chase equities higher." The largest public companies in the United States will continue to repurchase their own equity well into 2019 and goose the broader stock market higher, according to J.P. Morgan and Canaccord Genuity. It's expected that S&P 500 companies will execute some $800 billion in buybacks and return an additional $500 billion through dividends in 2019, J.P. Morgan's chief U.S. equity...

The date Britain leaves the EU could be pushed back by a couple of weeks to give time for legislation to be approved by lawmakers, the leader of Britain’s lower house of parliament said, the most senior figure to make such a suggestion. Britain is due to leave the bloc on March 29 but after lawmakers rejected Prime Minister Theresa May’s negotiated deal, it remains unclear how the country will leave the EU, opening up the possibility of a no-deal exit. Parliament will vote on a series of amendments on Tuesday as the clock ticks down on Britain’s departure date. “We can get the legislation through and I think we do, in spite of everything, have a very strong relationship with our EU friends and neighbours and I am absolutely certain that if we needed a couple of extra weeks or something then that would be feasible,” Andrea Leadsom told the BBC. Responding to...

The final days of January will likely be action packed for stock-market investors as the Federal Reserve, corporate earnings, and politics all converge to create a volatile backdrop for trading. But no event has more market-moving potential than the Fed’s policy meeting, with investors set to parse the statement Chairman Jerome Powell’s remarks for further clues on how the central bank will navigate an economy in transition.   The Federal Open Market Committee will convene its two-day meeting on Tuesday with the market largely expecting the central bank to hold steady on rates. However, it’s not the action so much but the message that investors will be focusing on. “Since the Fed’s December meeting, comments from Powell and other Fed members have served to reassure investors,” reiterating that further rate increases will be “data-dependent” and that policy makers are willing to be “patient and flexible,” said Mark Haefele, chief investment officer for UBS Global...