The billions of pounds that investors are taking out of stocks and shares by selling them in a frenzy (the FTSE 100's dropped by a whopping 7% this morning alone, and those top 100 companies are now worth less than 75% of what they were at the start of September), where is it going? Presumably it's not being invested in bank accounts, as their share prices are in absolute freefall. Property's falling almost as fast as share prices, so it doesn't seem to going into real estate. Oil's fallen $20 a barrel in a week. Gold and copper are both going up, but surely there's only so much opportunity to buy gold in vast amounts, isn't there? Are the world's billionaires literally selling up and just sticking it under the mattress?

and where is the money goverement say they are borrowing to put into the banking system coming from?

Who are these people with 400 billion to lend? Is the owners of Man City?

Well, the smartest money going - that which belongs to Warren Buffett - is buying. He's put $5 billion into Goldman Sachs and $3 billion into GE. His entire fortune is built on value investing; spotting a bargain and buying and holding it. You could do worse than follow his lead.

I recommended this on one of the other threads, but if you are genuinely interested in the cash flows here, read This Five Part Series by John Kemp.

It doesn't lend itself to a soundbite summary, but the FT's description is pretty good: "looking in detail at the Fed’s emergency money market operations and its ultimate reliance on Chinese support".

QUOTE:
and where is the money goverement say they are borrowing to put into the banking system coming from?

Hospitals
Schools
Social Services
Etc
Etc
Etc

Warren Buffet aside, have we not ascertained that there is no smart money.

The stupid money people who didn't invest in property,stocks,shares, endowments,pension plans, etc etc. are now the people to watch.

Actually, I say this, I am renting,have no mortgage depending on my shit endowments and have no pension plan and, temporarily, I am the smart money (as long as ING don't go tits up with my savings)

Well, me and a load of pensioners with money in mattresses

Doesn't smart money usually go in government bonds? Or are they not safe either?

Not if the Government is Iceland's, no...

After seeing his interview on Charlie Rose last week, I'm starting to understand why people worship Warren Buffet. If Obama wins, I hope he gets some kind of role in federal economic policy. I also think he'd be a good guy to push out as "the face" of American capitalism - he generally invests in companies that actually make stuff that people want and insists that buying stock is an investment in the company, not just a bet on whether its going to go up or down tomorrow, so he sticks to businesses he understands. Very sensible.

I've bought a few shares of a major insurance company lately. The batch I bought today went for $1.95 a share. If I had more cash to gamble with, I'd buy a few more shares of Google.

I didn't buy them for a quick turnaround, so if it takes five years for them to recover, that's okay with me.

In the United States, a lot of the money, smart or not, that's been taken out of stocks has been pouring into U.S. treasuries (t-bills) as opposed to corporate bonds which are seen as too uncertain.

I bought Krugerrands at £465 ( a couple of weeks ago)..they're over £600 now. wish I'd bought them when that daft cunt brown sold the nations gold off at knockdown prices :-(

some people are going to make unbelievable fortunes out of all this