That's money given to people and businesses. Secondary effects could go into the stock market but not directly and I definitely would not call that dumping into the stock market considering most was probably used to keep business and people afloat.
This squarely falls into the anecdotal camp, but my understanding based on online commentary and more specifically the actual experiences of four of my friends who run businesses ranging from a two-employee, furniture-building firm that probably generates $300-$500k in annual revenue all the way up to a major concrete contractor with a thousand employees and hundreds of millions in revenue applied for and were granted government funds and not a single one of those companies needed the money to keep staff on the payroll because their businesses continued to operate as normal for the extent of the pandemic. At least one of those folks fully admitted to putting their entire $80k+ "loan" into the stock market (the cruise lines in particular when they were getting beat up early on). It's appalling. And yes I said friends. I'm not condoning it, but business people will justify by saying "that's why I pay taxes."
I can't prove the scale, but I believe the op (or was it gp?) is right and those funds, to some extent, went directly into stocks, real estate, luxury automobiles, luxury watches, artwork and other assets, and a large percentage of the remainder found its way to those same places indirectly.
I have no concrete evidence or source for this, but I don't think my friends are unique here. For as many businesses as you heard were struggling there were countless others doing ok or even well during the pandemic.
Just trying to offer a different perspective on your comment.
