Investors Are Confident in Market and Economy: Nasdaq CEO

The fact that more investors are buying equities again shows a confidence in the economy, Robert Greifeld, CEO of the Nasdaq OMX Group, told CNBC Thursday.

“If you buy an equity, it means you have some basic confidence in the economy,” said Greifeld speaking from the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, from which he rang the exchange’s  opening bell.

Greifeld said that when investors left the market last year, there was virtually no competition for their investment money, because they moved it into money market and fixed-income funds.

Greifeld said more investments in stocks usually leads a natural sequence. "Any time you see net inflows to equities it has typically been followed by an increase in the prices for those equities and the volume and the liquidity in the market," he said.

Greifeld, who has attended the Davos forum for a number of years, said the gathering has evolved from one of discussing economics to one of lots of deal-making.