Investors shifted more cash into money market funds for nine consecutive weeks, suggesting they are somewhat nervous even as Wall Street is hovering at all-time highs, according to a private report released on Wednesday. Assets of money market funds, which are considered nearly as safe as bank accounts, increased by $19.13 billion to $3.156 trillion in the week ended June 25, the Money Fund Report said.
During this nine-week stretch, total fund assets have risen by $146 billion.
Taxable money market fund assets grew by $17.92 billion to $3.020 trillion, while tax-free assets climbed by $1.21 billion to $135.74 billion, according to the report, published by iMoneyNet.
Money managers' allocation to global equities dropped by 32 percentage points from May to a net 21% underweight, the lowest allocation to stocks since March 2009, a survey from Bank of America Merrill Lynch released last week showed.
On the other hand, their average allocation rose to 5.6% from 4.6% - the biggest jump since the 2011 debt ceiling crisis.
Even in light of those defensive moves by institutional investors, the S&P 500 hit a record high last Thursday on expectations the Federal Reserve would lower interest rates as early as next month to counter risk from global trade tension and sluggish domestic inflation.