GOLDMAN: American companies could spend a record amount buying their own shares in 2017

Seth Wenig/Reuters The biggest US companies are set to spend a record amount of cash buying their own shares in 2017, according to Goldman Sachs. The bank's chief US equity strategist, David Kostin, and his team estimate that S&P 500 buyback spending will total $780 billion next year. That would be more than their estimate for $602 billion in 2016, which is on track to be a record. In theory, companies buy their own shares with the belief that they are undervalued — and because there's nothing...