BMO's Mark Steel has been suggesting now for several weeks that readers go to cash. His latest publication dated June 8th says so in no uncertain terms. As he puts it...."We advocate switching out of equity positions and going to cash. the European sovereign debt crisis appears to be nowhere near over. The global credit environment is worsening. Cost of capital is going up and availability is going down. . . . Equity is lagging the deterioration in credit conditions. Moves in currency, equity and commodity markets are mirroring the moves in the credit market. Global grown, in a credit constrained environment, will slow. Profits will be squeezed by the higher cost of capital."

What I (Susan) also found interesting is that previously Steel had commented on gold as a cash like instrument so he advocates going for gold "to some degree." However, he says that "gold is really fools gold. It is great when, after you own it, a greater fool comes along and buys it off you at a higher price." His concern about owning gold at this stage has to do with the hedge funds who also own it and who may have to unload assets in a crisis like they did before. Gold may be one of the unloaded assets which could drive down the price. Frankly in my humble opinion, this could be a concern at least in the short term.