Wall Street missed every equity bull market then inevitably joined the party too late and serve as the buyers of last resort that soak up the supply of overvalued garbage being dumped by hedge funds, banks and other institutions at end of every bubble. Showing up to the party too late and then riding the crash is just kinda their thing.
As the Wall Street Journal pointed out recently, that cycle appears to be repeating itself with the current equity bubble. Well, only the first part, because no matter how high the market rises, retail investors just can't stop selling. In fact, since 2012 retail investors have pulled nearly $1 trillion in capital from U.S.-focused mutual funds.
NOTE THIS:
Here is a quote from the WSJ:
https://www.wsj.com/articles/as-dow-tops-25000-individual-investors-sit-it-out-1515099703The most dedicated buyer of U.S. shares has been the companies themselves. Corporate stock buybacks started ramping in 2009, hitting a record of $572 billion in 2015, before leveling off, according to data from S&P Dow Jones Indices. With the new tax law cutting the corporate rate to 21% from 35%, many analysts expect companies will use at least some of that cash to buy back more of their own shares.