Sometimes it may be best for companies to hoard cash at the top of the stock-market cycle and use it in the next trough to buy back shares at a discount.
U.S. equities fell off a cliff on the news, with the Dow dropping almost 93 points in a matter of minutes, attempting to rebound, and then falling back down close to its previous trough.
Both CEOs took over their companies near the bottom of the capital markets trough and have worked their companies back up to a stock price nearly identically above the pre-crash all-time high.
Now back on dry land after broadcasting on the latest work on the research ship James Cook in the Cayman Trough, I'm still picking up messages from people amazed at getting such an extraordinary vision of the reality of the deep sea.
The unemployment rate has dropped more than 40% of the way back to its pre-recession level, but the employment-to-population ratio is closer to its trough than its pre-recession peak.