United States, euro zone: Who is buying equities and driving up stock market indices?

For stock market indices to rise when investors are confident about the situation of companies, there must be buyers of equities. We look at who the buyers of equities are, and to what extent, in the United States and the euro zone, and whether the difference between the nature and activity of buyers of equities can explain a difference in equity market performance. We see that the differences between the United States and the euro zone are: The massive share buybacks by non-financial corporations in the United States, but not in the euro zone; Larger share purchases by non-residents in the United States than in the euro zone. In the United States, therefore, there is above all a contraction in the supply of equities , which explains the market’s outperformance.