The Globe and Mail reports in its Wednesday, Oct. 25, edition that Goldman Sachs chief U.S. equity strategist David Kostin is recommending defensive investment positioning through strong balance sheet, large cap stocks likely to buy back shares. The Globe's Scott Barlow writes that Mr. Kostin says in a note: "The 10-year US Treasury yield reached 4.98 per cent this week, the highest level since July, 2007. Amid higher rates, we expect investors will continue to focus on balance sheet strength and avoid companies that are most vulnerable to increased borrow costs. Performance since the start of September has reflected this dynamic as strong balance sheet stocks outperformed weak balance sheet stocks by 4 pp [percentage points]. For companies with strong balance sheets, we expect investors will reward those firms returning cash to shareholders and will remain skeptical of companies making large capex investments at this stage of the cycle." Mr. Kostin has created a basket of 50 companies where buybacks are expected. Stocks that are most likely to interest Canadian investors include T-Mobile U.S., MGM Resorts International, Quest Diagnostics, Salesforce, Apple, F5, Applied Materials and Meta Platforms.