Watch the Money Market Balances
November 19, 2008
– Comments (1) |
RELATED TICKERS: COP
, MEE.DL
, GE
WAY under the radar was a story last week that reported Money Market balances hit a record $3.5 Trillion (yes, with a "T") last week. That's before the various stock selloffs this week. To give you some frame of reference, this amount could buy the Top 20 U.S. Companies (based on Market Cap: http://www.theonlineinvestor.com/large_caps/) and STILL have $700 Billion left over to play around with.
Why is this important. Well, it is possible that the world is NOT coming to an end. I know all signs point to Armageddon, but what if life goes on? At some point, people will get tired of earning less than 1% in their "Safe" money market accounts and decide that buying shares in U.S. companies makes more sense. What happens when even a small portion of that balance (let's say $1 Trillion or so) begins pouring back into the market? Well, let's just say Supply and Demand is a law like gravity that cannot be broken.
How much longer will people continue to move their remaining assets at "fire sale" prices to money market accounts? I couldn't tell you - people's ability to remain irrational far exceed my ability to stay solvent, I'm afraid - but record Money Market balances do seem to point to capitulation.
Happy Investing! I like COP, MEE and GE - these will do well if the world doesn't end.
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