Bank of America’s Flow Show report suggests central banks have hoovered up more than $4 trillion in financial assets over the past two months.
by Martin Baccardax
The Street
Central banks around the world have been buying nearly $2.4 billion in financial assets every hour for the past two months, data from Bank of America suggested Friday, driving risk markets higher even as economies suffer unprecedented damage from the coronavirus pandemic.
The bank’s weekly Flow Show report notes that around $4 trillion in financial assets — from government and agency bonds to corporate and mortgage debt — have been hoovered up central banks from Tokyo to Washington, helping drive a $15 trillion surge in global equity market value over the past two months.
That surge, however, belies the fact that nearly 75% of the world’s 3042 globally listed stocks are trading in the bear market territory (or 20% below their recent peak) and that “policymakers causing “immoral hazard”, forcing investors to buy, banks to lend, corporate zombies to issue in 2020.”