Companies Have Strong Cash Cushion; Barron’s

Corporate America is looking to boost its spending and hiring expenses. Companies are also looking to return cash to their shareholders in the form of dividends and share buybacks. Barron’s has reported that cash holdings of Standard & Poor’s 500 companies, whether measured as a percentage of corporate assets or a proportion of total stock-market value, are at or near record levels.

Brian Belski, chief investment strategist with Oppenheimer (NYSE: OPY), told Barron’s, “companies have been operating "in the bunker" since the credit shock hit, paring payrolls, repaying or refinancing debt, cutting capital spending and nursing their profit margins.”