CNBC writes "Investors are hiding out in cash: Assets in money market funds surge past $3 trillion," which tells us, "Cash is becoming the king as investors flee volatile stock markets. Assets in money market mutual funds have swollen to $3.066 trillion, their highest level since March 2010, driven by retail investors. The money fund assets had spent much of the last decade in the $2 trillion range but tracked above $3 trillion again in mid-December, coinciding with a late-2018 market downturn that resulted in the S&P 500 posting a 6.2 percent drop for the year, it's worst showing in a decade." The article continues, "Sean Collins, chief economist at the Investment Company Institute, which tracks the data, said the move could reflect a combination of factors: Investors are wary about the stock market volatility, but higher short-term interest rates are also making money market funds more attractive for those who want a short-term asset. Money market funds have long been considered as safe as cash savings accounts at banks.... Nearly three-quarters of the $183 billion that has flowed into money market funds since the end of the third quarter of last year was to retail funds, not institutional, according to ICI data."