Goldman Sachs, Morgan, and other major U.S. banks' Q1 stock buyback expenditures hit record highs

ME News report: On April 15 (UTC+8), buoyed by profit growth and the Trump administration’s more relaxed regulatory rules, the largest U.S. banks collectively poured a record $33 billion into stock buybacks in the first quarter of 2026, far exceeding market expectations. JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, and Citigroup all carried out the largest stock buybacks in their histories. Bank of America and Morgan Stanley’s buyback amounts also reached their highest levels in years. Chris Kotofsky, a senior analyst at Oppenheimer who tracks shares of large banks, said, “The actual buyback scale for each bank is 30%, 40%, or even 50% higher than our model predictions.” In addition, the Trump administration is rolling out the most significant deregulation on Wall Street since the 2008 financial crisis, allowing banks to put more resources into lending and returns to shareholders rather than strengthening their capital buffers. (Jin10) (Source: ODAILY)