Fearful investors have piled cash into money market funds, which are now back at an all-time high of $4.8 trillion. The last time money market fund assets were as high was during the height of the pandemic in May 2020.
The recent financial troubles of smaller US banks (i.e. excluding the 25 largest banks) could affect other parts of the economy since they provide 40% of all bank lending, including two-thirds of commercial real-estate loans and 70% of construction loans.
Based on over 54 million processed tax returns, the average tax refund has fallen 11% to $3,028 from $3,401 a year ago.
Last Thursday marked the 14th anniversary of the S&P 500’s financial crisis lows on March 9th, 2009 reached during the Great Recession. Since that low, the S&P 500's annualized return has been a gain of 15.8%.
BlackRock- "Advisor Center"
WSJ - "Local Banks Could Leave Gaps That Will Are Hard to Fill"
Barrons- "Tax Refunds Will Be Lower This Year. it's Going to Squeeze Consumer Spending."
