Panic on Wall Street: $8.9 Billion Exodus Shakes Investors, Europe and Japan Party On 🤡

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The money came out — not in a trickle, but like rain so hard it flattens crops. That’s how it was for the week, when bankers in their quiet towers watched as $8.9 billion fled the American markets, right on the tail of tariffs and fresh uncertainties. One could almost hear the cash hit the tarmac in Europe and Japan, which took in $3.4 billion and $4.4 billion, respectively, as if foreign lands were suddenly very fine fields come harvest time.

Here’s what the big folks at Bank of America observed: since November, for every $100 planted in US stocks, $5 has now walked off the farm in just three weeks. Not quite a gold rush in reverse, more like a tractor in the night leaving a cloud of dust.

And while the world’s farmers of fortune looked elsewhere, the crypto-cowboys sauntered in with $2.3 billion, high-yield bond chasers added $3.9 billion, and everyone else seemed to be at a square dance called “Risk On.” Meanwhile, sad sacks gold and Treasuries lost $6 billion — turns out safe assets aren’t as comfy as grandma’s quilt this week.

Clients, wringing their hands and collecting their anxiety like rainwater in a drought, are said to be more scared of prices slipping than surging. They’re hoarding utility stocks and those low-volatility ETFs—the financial world’s equivalent of canned beans and shotgun shells.

Last month, the Bank of America strategists — who probably keep crystal balls by their Bloomberg terminals — advised clients to use any stock market bounce to cash out. The US dollar, they say, is set for debasement, which in the grand investment rodeo is apparently the cleanest horse to bet on. Yeehaw, and pass the banker’s bourbon.

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2025-05-08 15:14