some investors think those funds will eventually flow back into the stock market and help push asset prices higher as risks recede and investor sentiment improves, as has happened in the past.
When cash floods money market funds,"from a sentiment standpoint, it is a vote of extreme pessimism toward risk-on assets by investors. From a flows perspective, the assetsBut this time could be different, according to NDR. That's because there's a big difference between investors stashing cash due to an uncertain macro environment and investors"Investors selling stocks to buy money market funds, which can logically be reversed once the coast is clear, is one thing. People moving funds from banks getting less than 0.5% to money market funds offering several percent higher is another," NDR said.
And even if the cash in money market funds eventually does flow back into the stock market, it might not have as big of an impact that some investors think, according to NDR. Money market assets represent just 13% of the US stock market capitalization, compared to 46.9% in February 2009 and 24.0% in February 2003 — two periods when the stock market went on to stage multi-year rallies.