Investors' appetite for international stocks growing

Individual investors added money to U.S. stocks for a seventh straight week last week, but they're continuing to show an even stronger appetite for international stocks.

While U.S. stock mutual funds attracted $1.1 billion during the week ended Feb. 14, international stock funds lured nearly $3.5 billion, according to data from the Investment Company Institute. So far this year, investors have poured almost $21 billion in U.S. stocks and MORE

Mutual funds attract record $81 billion in January

After taking money off the table toward the end of 2012, individual investors came back with a vengeance in January, adding a record $80.6 billion to their mutual fund holdings, according to the Investment Company Institute.

Investors added nearly $38 billion to stock funds during the month, with a little more than half of that flowing into international stocks.

Nearly $33 billion, or 41% of the total monthly inflow, went into MORE

Investors' rush into stocks slows

Investors have been adding money to the U.S. stock market since the beginning of the year, but the pace of inflows has slowed considerably.

U.S. stock mutual funds lured in just $509 million during the week ended Feb. 13, according to data from the Investment Company Institute. While that marks the sixth straight week of inflows, it's the smallest of the year. During the first four weeks of 2013, investors MORE

Bernanke and other Fed doves are not dead yet

The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Paul R. La Monica. Other than Time Warner, the parent of CNNMoney, Abbott Laboratories and AbbVie, La Monica does not own positions in any individual stocks.

Last I checked, there has not been a palace coup d'état in the halls of the Federal Reserve. Kansas City Fed president Esther George has not wrested control of the central bank's chairmanship from Ben MORE

After binge, individual investors less bullish on stocks

Individual investors continued to put money into the stock market last week, but the pace has slowed.

U.S. stock mutual funds, a popular investment vehicle for individuals, brought in just over $3.5 billion in the final week of January, according to the Investment Company Institute. That's about $30 million more than the week prior, when flows started to moderate.

Overall, investors have poured $10.3 billion into U.S. stock mutual funds in January.

That's MORE

Bill Gross: Be very afraid of the markets

Bond guru and Pimco (PTTRX) managing director Bill Gross isn't buying into the bull market. In fact, he's warning investors to be afraid, be very afraid, of how inflation and the flood of cheap money will affect all investments.

Investors should be prepared to accept "lower returns on bonds, stocks, real estate and derivative strategies," Gross wrote in his monthly letter entitled "Credit Supernova!"

Championing something of a bunker mentality, Gross MORE

Investors still buying stocks, but enthusiasm waning

Individual investors continue dip back into U.S. stocks as the Dow and S&P 500 get closer to new record highs, but the pace has slowed.

U.S. stock mutual funds raked in $3.5 billion during the week ended Jan. 23, according to data from the Investment Company Institute, making it the third consecutive week that investors added money to U.S. stocks. Altogether, investors have plowed more than $16 billion into the market during MORE

Investors pour record $8 billion into U.S. stocks

After yanking more than $150 billion from U.S. stock mutual funds last year, investors began to put their money back into the market at the start of 2013. A lot of it.

U.S. stock mutual funds gained $8 billion in the week ended Jan. 9, according to the Investment Company Institute. That's the highest amount since the ICI began keeping records in 2007.

The big flood of money came as the MORE

Investors plowed record $183 billion in ETFs in 2012

U.S. investors plowed a record $183 billion into U.S.-listed exchange traded funds last year, surpassing the previous record of $178 billion set in 2008, according to State Street data.

"Last year's impressive overhaul amounts to yet another clear sign that ETFs are not only here to stay, but are increasingly chipping away at the dominance of mutual funds," said Olivier Ludwig, managing editor at IndexUniverse, which also tracks ETF assets.

Like mutual MORE

Bill Gross: Avoid long-term bonds

Everything comes at a cost, including the Fed's low rate policy and multiple rounds of monetary easing.

Not one to pass up a good musical reference, noted bond guru and Pimco managing director Bill Gross' latest missive is aptly titled "Money for Nothin' Writing checks for free" in a nod to Dire Straits. In the past, Gross has cited The Beatles and Flavor Flav in pieces.

In his first investment outlook MORE