That cash holds such allure says a lot about the unsettled financial and economic environment. Fears of a potential bear market, continued rate hikes by the Federal Reserve and a looming recession have investors nervous, worried that 2023 could be a reprise of 2022’s brutal hit to portfolios. Morgan Stanley’s chief US equity strategist Michael Wilson told Bloomberg TV last week that the S&P 500 Index could fall around 20% due to weak corporate earnings.
In 2023, cash is far from trash.
That’s the verdict of the 404 professional and retail investors who took part in the latest MLIV Pulse survey. Two-thirds of respondents said the cash in their portfolios would be a net positive in the year ahead, rather than a drag on performance.
