With incomes rising faster than spending, the personal savings rate improved to negative 0.7% from negative 0.8%. The record low was in August at negative 2.2%. The savings rate has been negative for six of the past seven months.

The OECD said oil prices and other imbalances, such as the U.S. current-account deficit, pose increasing risks. The deficit in the U.S. current account, which reflects the balance of trade and other payments, is projected to rise to a record 7% of gross domestic product in 2007.

"These imbalances largely reflect inadequate macroeconomic policies," the report said, singling out the U.S. deficit, as well as "mercantilist" exchange-rate policies in some Asian economies that the OECD said were aimed at winning global market share. It didn't name the offenders, though China has faced the most criticism for its exchange-rate policies.

Adjusting such policies is becoming "increasingly pressing," the report said, warning that inaction raises the risk of large and destabilizing movements in currencies, asset prices and interest rates "and, finally, weakening world growth."

This year, the companies in the Standard & Poor's 500-stock index are on track to pay out more than $500 billion to shareholders in the form of dividends and share repurchases, or buybacks, according to S&P. That's up more than 30% from last year's record -- and equivalent to nearly $1,700 for every person in the U.S.

The outpouring of cash from corporate coffers in the U.S. is just one aspect of a world-wide phenomenon. With interest rates low, unprecedented amounts of capital are sloshing around the globe, in search of better returns. Pension funds, mutual funds and insurance-company accounts, for example, have some $46 trillion in assets, up almost a third from five years ago.

But there could be an economic downside to the cash glut. The fact that companies have been sitting on so much cash is, in some respects, a vote of no-confidence in U.S. economic prospects: At least some companies may be signaling they can't find enough profitable ways to reinvest their earnings, so they are simply returning it to shareholders.

Some economists call the payouts this year an ominous development that may be stealing from future economic growth, since they suggest companies are having trouble spotting new products, projects or services they think will boost their growth. Indeed, capital spending by the companies in the S&P 500 has grown only modestly over the past two years, after two years of declines, according to S&P.

For a record 14 consecutive quarters, companies in the S&P 500 have reported double-digit profit growth, according to S&P's Mr. Silverblatt. His firm's projections have the record streak lasting at least two more quarters.