The article isn't about Apple using $14b of its $196b in cash reserves to buy back stock. The article is about Apple borrowing money to buy back stock. They aren't touching that $196b. They're retiring short-term bonds with long-term bonds. The velocity of money is at like fuckall. Some pundits have likened this to the speed of air underneath the economy's wings. Air slows down, plane stalls. Apple is probably doing a stock buyback now, with borrowed money no less, because the shit might be about to hit the fan. (Apr 2020)The pandemic has changed the buyback discussion for every public company. Using Apple as an example, it’s not that the company’s intrinsic value, which reflects Apple’s cash flow generating capability in the future, has changed because of economic fallout related to the pandemic. Instead, market dislocations in credit markets have led to a renewed focus on liquidity and balance sheet preservation.