Inflows hit records

According to the Investment Company Institute, equity mutual funds and ETFs enjoyed $53.9 billion in inflows in the week ending March 17. Dating back to 1996, that's the largest inflow for any month, much less week.

Over the past 4 weeks, inflows total more than $80 billion.

It's still tiny compared to the market cap of all U.S. equities, but still ranks among the highest readings in 20 years. As the fund industry was ramping up in the mid-90s, inflows were higher as a share of the market.

This might be an inconsistent indicator, but it's getitng awfully hard to keep a straight face when anyone suggests that buying stocks here is a contrarian idea.