The combination of soaring inflation and monetary policy tightening by the Federal Reserve is leading investors into cash as the stock market continues to decline and fears of a recession grow.

A Bank of America fund manager survey found that investors are now hoarding cash at the highest rate since the 9/11 terrorist attacks, surpassing even the levels set during the Great Recession and the peak of the coronavirus pandemic.

The monthly survey found that investors see forceful Fed tightening as the biggest risk right now. After a quarter-percentage-point hike of its interest rate target in March, this month the central bank announced the most aggressive interest rate hike in more than two decades, raising rates by half a percentage point. Investors expect more half-point hikes are in store.