Apple used to be the leader in buying back shares. Now, Nvidia has broken the tech company’s record, announcing Monday that it would add $150 billion to its stock buyback program, on top of $80 billion pledged a few months ago. The chipmaker’s profits have continued to surge, as tech companies pour money into data centers and AI infrastructure. Is this a smart way for Nvidia to spend its money? More on Nvidia today, plus how a volunteer firefighter shortage is affecting a rural Wyoming county, why spending is predicted to soar this holiday season despite the energy crisis, and what economists are watching for in the jobs numbers coming out this week. Every story has an economic angle. Want some in your inbox? Subscribe to our daily or weekly newsletter. Marketplace is more than a radio show. Check out our original reporting and financial literacy content at marketplace.org — and consider making an investment in our future. Read the stories in today’s episode: It&#x27;s a big week for economic data. Here&#x27;s what labor economists will be looking for. Nvidia&#x27;s record stock buyback funded by cash from the data center boom There’s a national volunteer firefighter shortage. It’s on display in Wyoming Early retirement isn&#x27;t always a choice Adobe forecasts record U.S. spending online this holiday season The mall isn&#x27;t dead, yet

Nvidia's record-breaking stock buyback

Marketplace

[SPEAKER_18] Where is this economy going? Oh, wouldn't you like to know? From American Public Media, this is Marketplace. In Los Angeles, I'm Kai Rizdahl. It is Monday. Today, this one is the 28th day of September. Good as it always is. To have you along, everybody.

[SPEAKER_18] The first couple of minutes of the program today are going to be about time, about where the economy might be going and about where it has been. It is often said here and elsewhere that if you want to know which way the economy is going, the bond market is where you ought to look. And with the caveat that, yes, we have been doing a whole lot of bond stories the past couple of weeks,

[SPEAKER_18] the story that the bond market is telling us just keeps being reinforced. Business activity is strong. Government debt is high. The geopolitical narrative is unclear at best. And so today, bond yields across the curve. That is, the interest rate the government has to pay on almost all of its notes, bonds and bills. Those yields were up again, in some cases to 19 year highs.

[SPEAKER_18] So at the very least, the economy yet to come is going to be more expensive. We are also going to learn some things about the economy that was this week. On Wednesday, we'll get what was, once upon a time, the Federal Reserve's preferred measure of inflation, the personal consumption expenditures price index for the month of August. We'll get data on home prices. That's coming from Case-Shiller and a whole bunch of data on the labor market. The job openings and labor turnover survey, that's jolts, right? We talk about that all the time.

Nvidia's record-breaking stock buyback

Read the full transcript

The candid version is on a podcast,
not the earnings call.

Nvidia's record-breaking stock buyback

Read the full transcript

The candid version is on a podcast, not the earnings call.

The candid version is on a podcast,
not the earnings call.