Stock exodus continues as investors yank $5.1 billion out

The stock market keeps going up, and investors keep cashing out.

Mutual fund investors pulled $5.1 billion out of U.S. stock mutual funds for the week ended Sept. 26. The prior week, investors removed $4.8 billion from these funds, according to data from the Investment Company Institute.

The exodus from the stock market has picked up speed since the Federal Reserve announced another round of quantitative easing, or QE3.

By buying more bonds, the Federal Reserve is hoping to push investors into riskier investments like stocks. This has succeeded on one front by boosting stock prices, but investors continue to flee the stock market.

All three major stock indexes have seen double-digit growth this year, and the S&P 500 (SPX) has gained 16%.

Related: Individual investors miss the rally again

The total 2012 outflow from U.S. mutual funds is roughly $93 billion. By comparison, those funds lost around $67 billion during the first nine months of 2010, and $83 billion during the first nine months of 2011.

While bailing out of stocks, investors continue to plow into bonds. Bond funds raked in $8.8 billion during the week ended Sept. 26, up from $8 billion the previous week.

Meanwhile, the ICI data showed that hybrid funds, which invest in both stocks and bonds, also saw an exodus of $377 million. Investors had been increasing their hybrid holdings during the previous weeks.

CNNMoney's Hibah Yousuf contributed to this report