# Nonfinancial corporate equity / M2 | PIER20 benchmarks

How large is the quoted value of US nonfinancial corporations' equity relative to the money supply?

The nonfinancial corporate equity to M2 ratio divides the market value of US nonfinancial companies' equity by the M2 money supply. A rising ratio means corporate equity is claiming a larger share of the money stock; a falling ratio means money supply is growing faster than the quoted value of corporate equity. It is a valuation-regime indicator, not a timing signal.

As of **Q1 2026**, the latest reading is **3.10 ratio**. That is up 12.5% over the past year and above its long-run median of 1.34 ratio.

## Summary statistics (full history)

| Series | First | Latest | Min | Max |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nonfinancial corporate equity / M2 | 1.16 | 3.10 | 0.60 | 3.49 |

## Last 24 readings

| Date | Nonfinancial corporate equity / M2 |
|---|---|
| Q2 2020 | 2.02 |
| Q3 2020 | 2.08 |
| Q4 2020 | 2.33 |
| Q1 2021 | 2.41 |
| Q2 2021 | 2.50 |
| Q3 2021 | 2.45 |
| Q4 2021 | 2.56 |
| Q1 2022 | 2.37 |
| Q2 2022 | 1.95 |
| Q3 2022 | 1.86 |
| Q4 2022 | 1.96 |
| Q1 2023 | 2.13 |
| Q2 2023 | 2.36 |
| Q3 2023 | 2.26 |
| Q4 2023 | 2.50 |
| Q1 2024 | 2.72 |
| Q2 2024 | 2.78 |
| Q3 2024 | 2.91 |
| Q4 2024 | 2.94 |
| Q1 2025 | 2.76 |
| Q2 2025 | 3.00 |
| Q3 2025 | 3.19 |
| Q4 2025 | 3.23 |
| Q1 2026 | 3.10 |

## How to read this benchmark

**What a high reading means.** When the ratio climbs, the market value of nonfinancial corporate equity is expanding faster than the broad money supply that could in principle support it, a pattern historically associated with extended valuation regimes such as the late 1990s dot-com peak. When it falls, either equity valuations are compressing or M2 is growing faster than equity values, conditions that have often coincided with accumulation phases.

**Why M2 as the denominator.** M2 is the Federal Reserve's broad money measure, covering cash, checking, savings and small time deposits. Scaling nonfinancial corporate equity by M2 asks whether the supply of dollars is keeping pace with the market's quoted worth, so a rising ratio means valuations are climbing faster than the money stock, not just faster than last quarter's prices.

**Limitations.** NCBEILQ027S covers only domestic nonfinancial corporations, so it excludes financials, foreign listings and the full market capitalisation captured by a price index such as VTI. The figure is also a level, not a return: it ignores dividends and buybacks. M2 is a domestic measure while a large share of US corporate revenue is earned abroad. Treat the ratio as context for valuation regimes, not investment advice.

**Historical extremes.** The ratio peaked near 3.5 in early 2000 at the height of the dot-com bubble and bottomed around 0.6 in 1982, when high interest rates crushed equity multiples while money supply kept growing. The 2000 high remains the all-time reading: more than two decades later the ratio, though substantially above its 1982 trough, has not reclaimed that peak. Each prior extreme eventually reverted toward the long-run median through a combination of equity drawdowns and money-supply growth.

## How this benchmark is used

**Flow of Funds corporate valuation check.** NCBEILQ027S comes from the Federal Reserve's Z.1 Financial Accounts of the United States (the Flow of Funds), the standard source for aggregate corporate balance-sheet values. Analysts who build valuation frameworks off the Flow of Funds use this ratio as the money-supply-normalized version of corporate equity value, complementing the GDP-normalized Buffett indicator that uses a flow rather than a stock as its denominator.

**Dot-com valuation regime benchmark.** The 2000 peak near 3.5 is the reference point strategists cite when asking whether nonfinancial corporate equity is as extended today as it was at the dot-com top. The fact that the ratio has not reclaimed that level in the two decades since, despite a multi-trillion-dollar expansion of the money supply, is itself a use: it calibrates how much monetary expansion alone can lift the ratio without real multiple expansion.

**Corporate-vs-total equity decomposition.** Because this ratio excludes financials and foreign listings, it isolates the nonfinancial corporate slice in a way the VTI-based ratio cannot. Strategists comparing the valuation trajectory of productive corporate America against the full market use the spread between this ratio and the total-equity-to-M2 ratio as a measure of how much of broad-market stretching is coming from financials and foreign names.

## Frequently asked questions

**What is the current nonfinancial corporate equity / M2?**

As of Q1 2026, the latest reading is 3.10 ratio. That is up 12.5% over the past year and above its long-run median of 1.34 ratio.

**How often is this benchmark updated?**

This benchmark is built on quarterly data. The page is refreshed when the source publishes new observations; the freshness block below the chart shows the exact data-through date and when PIER20 last fetched the file.

**What data sources does this chart use?**

The chart is built from Nonfinancial corporate equity / M2, sourced from Federal Reserve Economic Data (FRED).

**What is the highest and lowest the nonfinancial corporate equity to M2 ratio has reached?**

Across the quarterly series, which begins in 1959, the ratio peaked at roughly 3.5 in the first quarter of 2000 during the dot-com bubble and bottomed near 0.6 in mid-1982. The 2000 peak remains the all-time high; the ratio today sits below it.

**Why is M2 not shown as a separate line on this chart?**

M2 is the denominator of the ratio, not a plotted series. The single line on the chart is the result of dividing nonfinancial corporate equity (NCBEILQ027S) by M2 (M2SL). PIER20 does publish charts that plot M2 as its own line for comparison, such as Total US stock market vs M2 money supply and Bitcoin vs M2 money supply.

**How is this different from total stock market to M2?**

This chart uses the Federal Reserve's market value of nonfinancial corporate equity (NCBEILQ027S), which excludes financials and foreign listings and so understates the full market. Total US stock market vs M2 uses a broad price index (VTI) that captures the entire US equity market's level. The two move broadly together but answer different questions: this one tracks a market-value-to-money ratio, the other a price-index-to-money ratio.

**Why compare assets to M2 instead of inflation?**

CPI measures consumer prices; M2 measures the money stock itself. Assets vs CPI shows purchasing-power preservation; assets vs M2 shows whether asset growth is outpacing monetary expansion. PIER20 publishes both perspectives across the liquidity cluster.

## Methodology

- Formula: (NCBEILQ027S in $m / 1,000) / M2SL in $bn
- Frequency: Quarterly
- Sources: Nonfinancial corporate equity / M2 (NCBEILQ027S) https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/NCBEILQ027S. Data via Federal Reserve Economic Data (FRED).
- Data through: Q1 2026
- Last refreshed: 11 Aug 2026

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Full interactive chart: https://pier20.com/benchmarks/us-corporate-equity-to-m2
Disclaimer: research software output, not investment advice.