How much of that was due to inflation?
People could just be trying to get rid of cash.
I had a bunch of excess cash due to falling behind on D.C.A.-ing, and I accelerated that (which was not a good idea in the short term, but that's what D.C.A.-ing is all about - wish I hadn't fallen behind on it over the years!) and bought a bunch of under-par bonds and utilities for the yield, sold a lot of now-expired SPY puts and stock calls too ;) More trading than I've done in my life, mostly because of inflation, not stimulus.
It’s possible, but I don’t think that was a major factor. It wasn’t in the linked article and inflation was much lower during the stimulus. When it was creeping up, initially people thought it was transient. I don’t think most people know what the inflation rate actually is; I asked someone yesterday and they said “close to 50%”.
I had a bunch of excess cash due to falling behind on D.C.A.-ing, and I accelerated that (which was not a good idea in the short term, but that's what D.C.A.-ing is all about - wish I hadn't fallen behind on it over the years!) and bought a bunch of under-par bonds and utilities for the yield, sold a lot of now-expired SPY puts and stock calls too ;) More trading than I've done in my life, mostly because of inflation, not stimulus.