Between earn-nothing cash, broken long-term bonds, these are the safety trades of 2026 market

Cnbc · Aug 15, 2026 · 1180 words · By Cheryl Winokur Munk

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What to know about Between earn-nothing cash, broken long-term bonds, these are the safety trades of 2026 market

Many investors are turning to short-term investments, particularly ultra-short bond funds, amid persistent concerns that the equity market is headed for an inevitable downturn and long-term bonds like the 10-year treasury are not providing the diversification…

Claims checked 14

Techniques found 0

Topics 0

Coverage spectrum

Coverage gap: Low Left coverage

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Center100%

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3 sources compared across this story cluster. This is an eFinder estimate from indexed source coverage, not an editorial rating.

What happened

Why it matters

Stock market returns have been strong over the past decade, with the S&P 500 Index delivering double-digit gains for most of the past decade.

Common ground

The last several years have been especially robust, buoyed by the "Mag 7" technology stocks and the AI boom.

Perspective signals

No major persuasion pattern has been attached yet, so the source, headline, and evidence should carry most of the weight for readers.

Follow-up questions

What concrete event or decision sits underneath the headline: Between earn-nothing cash, broken long-term bonds, these are the safety trades of 2026 market?
What evidence would most clearly confirm or weaken the claim that From January through July, money market ETFs had net inflows of $18.7 billion, compared with $2.8 billion for money market mutual funds?
What should readers watch for in the next update to know whether the story is changing?

open_in_new Read the original article: https://www.cnbc.com/2026/08/15/cash-money-market-funds-bonds.html

fact_checkClaims Checked

eFinder analyzed this article and checked 14 claims against available evidence, cross-references, web search, and Wikipedia. Here is what the fact-checking layer found.

schedule Pending 4

verified Verified By Reference 3

info Single Source 3

help Insufficient Evidence 2

check_circle Corroborated 1

verified Verified 1

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Claim 1: “From January through July, money market ETFs had net inflows of $18.7 billion, compared with $2.8 billion for money market mutual funds.”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

help

Claim 2: “net flows into money market ETFs have been positive every month since inception except for June and July 2026”

INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE

No evidence was found after searching for this claim.

verified

Claim 3: “Brookwood Investment Group's model portfolios, for instance, generally consist of about 5% cash. That's up from about 2% in June.”

VERIFIED BY REFERENCE

While evidence confirms the existence of Brookwood Investment Group and its 13F filings, none of the provided sources mention specific cash percentages in their model portfolios or changes from June to current.

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Brookwood Cemetery, also known as the London Necropolis, is a burial ground in Brookwood, Surrey, England. It is the largest cemetery in the United Kingdom and one of the largest in Europe. The ceme…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brookwood_Cemetery

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Fort Steuben Mall was an enclosed shopping mall in Steubenville, Ohio, United States. Opened in 1974, it features JCPenney, Walmart, and 7 Ranges Entertainment as its anchor stores, with one vacant an…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Steuben_Mall

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The London Necropolis Railway was a railway line opened in November 1854 by the London Necropolis Company (LNC), to carry corpses and mourners between London and the LNC's newly opened Brookwood Cemet…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_Necropolis_Railway

+ 3 more evidence sources

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Claim 4: “At the end of June, around 64% of money was in stock funds, 18% in bond funds, and 17.5% in money markets, according to Morningstar data.”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

help

Claim 5: “Assets totaled $24 billion across the nine ETFs at the end of July, compared with $7.7 trillion held in money market mutual funds, according to Morningstar data.”

INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE

No evidence was found after searching for this claim.

info

Claim 6: “while its 7-10 Year Treasury Bond ETF (IEF) has posted an average annual decline of 1%.”

SINGLE SOURCE

One source mentions IEF is 'down 1.2% since the beginning of the year', but there is no evidence provided for an 'average annual decline of 1%' over a specific multi-year period.

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — This is a list of notable Hong Kong exchange-traded funds, or ETFs.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Hong_Kong_exchange-tra…

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — In finance, a bond is a type of security under which the issuer (debtor) owes the holder (creditor) a debt, and is obliged – depending on the terms – to provide cash flow to the creditor; which usuall…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bond_(finance)

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — This is a table of notable American exchange-traded funds, or ETFs. As of 2020, the number of exchange-traded funds worldwide was over 7,600, representing about 7.74 trillion U.S. dollars in assets. T…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_American_exchange-trad…

+ 3 more evidence sources

verified

Claim 7: “Stock market returns have been strong over the past decade, with the S&P 500 Index delivering double-digit gains for most of the past decade.”

VERIFIED BY REFERENCE

The provided evidence consists of general Wikipedia definitions of the S&P 500 and irrelevant search results for the letter 'S'. There is no data regarding the specific returns or double-digit gains over the past decade.

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The S&P 500 (Standard and Poor's 500) is a stock market index tracking the stock performance of 500 companies listed on stock exchanges in the United States that are considered to have large market ca…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S&P_500

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — This article is a summary of the closing milestones of the S&P 500 Index, a United States stock market index.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Closing_milestones_of_the_S&P_…

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The S&P 500 is a stock market index maintained by S&P Dow Jones Indices. It comprises 503 common stocks which are issued by 500 companies with large market capitalizations, including two share classes…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_S&P_500_companies

+ 3 more evidence sources

verified

Claim 8: “Ultra-short bond ETFs saw inflows of $12.8 billion in July, according to Morningstar Direct.”

VERIFIED BY REFERENCE

The provided evidence for this claim is entirely irrelevant, discussing music festivals, megacap stocks, and political figures rather than Morningstar data on bond ETF inflows.

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — In business and investing, a megacap stock (also mega-cap or mega cap) is a stock whose market capitalization (market cap) is among the very largest. These are stocks of the largest publicly traded co…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megacap_stock

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The NIFTY 500 is an Indian broad-based stock market index of the companies listed in the National Stock Exchange. It contains top 500 listed companies on the NSE. The NIFTY 500 index represents about …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NIFTY_500

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Vivek Ganapathy Ramaswamy (born August 9, 1985) is an American entrepreneur and politician. He founded Roivant Sciences, a biotechnological pharmaceutical company, in 2014 and was its chief executive …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vivek_Ramaswamy

+ 3 more evidence sources

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Claim 9: “bank deposits are paying next to nothing with an average yield well under 1%”

CORROBORATED

Multiple web search results indicate that average bank deposit yields are very low, with one source explicitly stating the average yield is 'close to zero'.

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web search NEUTRAL — The average yield on those bank deposits is close to zero.Deposit insurance isn’t just about safety — it’s about sustaining trust when the next banking crisis hits. The proposed reforms aim to extend …
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/jasonwenk_if-the-average-clie…

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web search NEUTRAL — “Between higher bill cutoffs, slower deposit growth and robust loan growth, upward pressure on rates is materialising,” he wrote on Thursday. Six-month cut-offs have moved higher. Auction yield, annua…
https://ts2.tech/en/singapore-t-bill-yield-hits-1-60-as-big-…

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web search NEUTRAL — A bank deposit is perhaps the simplest investment tool. The depositor earns a fixed interest rate, and the funds are insured by the state within certain limits (for example, up to 1.4 million rubles i…
https://emcd.io/ru/academy/articles/cryptocurrency/yield-com…

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Claim 10: “The largest money market ETF is the ProShares GENIUS Money Market ETF (IQMM). That fund had $17.4 billion in assets at the end of July, according to Morningstar Direct.”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

info

Claim 11: “These funds [ultra-short bond funds] primarily invest in fixed-income securities with maturities typically under one year.”

SINGLE SOURCE

The search results for 'Ultra' returned irrelevant information about music festivals and sleep pouches, providing no definition or confirmation of ultra-short bond funds.

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web search NEUTRAL — Ultra 19 languagesAdd topic
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultra

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web search NEUTRAL — Search Search Toggle the table of contents Ultra Music Festival 24 languagesAdd topic
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultra_Music_Festival

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web search NEUTRAL — Ultra Sleep Pouches are nicotine-free, caffeine-free oral pouches designed to help you fall asleep faster, sleep more deeply, and wake up refreshed. Six research-backed botanicals and adaptogens.
https://takeultra.com/

info

Claim 12: “The first of these ETFs [money market ETFs] started trading in 2024, and there are only nine in the U.S.”

SINGLE SOURCE

The search results provided are for bank branches in Texas and have no relevance to money market ETFs or their inception dates.

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — This is one of the many our many Texas locationsand a place we are proud to serve with financial services based on family values. Located at 401 East Taylor Street, First United Bank assists customers…
https://www.firstunitedbank.com/locations/sherman-taylor-str…

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web search NEUTRAL — First Financial is a community bank with 79 locations across Texas providing services such as online banking, home loans, commercial lending and wealth management.
https://ffin.com/

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web search NEUTRAL — Start Site Search Sherman Branch Sherman Branch 2315 N. Hwy 75 Sherman, TX 75090 Phone (903) 771-4555 Get Directions Welcome to First State Bank’s Sherman Branch
https://www.firststate.bank/branches/sherman-branch

verified

Claim 13: “The iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF (TLT), for example, has posted an average annual return of negative 6.7% over the past five years”

VERIFIED

A specific web search result explicitly states that the iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF (TLT) has '-6.66% annualized returns for 5 years', which aligns with the claim of -6.7%.

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — This is a list of notable Hong Kong exchange-traded funds, or ETFs.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Hong_Kong_exchange-tra…

+ 3 more evidence sources

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Claim 14: “The proportion of money invested in money markets has been around 18% to 20% over the past several years.”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

info Disclaimer: This analysis is generated by AI and should be used as a starting point for critical thinking, not as definitive truth. Claims are verified against publicly available sources. Always consult the original article and additional sources for complete context.