The Buzz
Investors still buying stocks, but enthusiasm waning
January 31, 2013: 11:25 AM ET
U.S. stock mutual funds raked in $3.5 billion during the week ended Jan. 23, marking the third consecutive week of inflows.
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 that time period, according to ICI.
The inflows represent a significant departure from the recent trend of investors fleeing the stock market, but are still just a drop in the bucket when you consider that investors yanked more than $150 billion from U.S. stocks during each of the last three years.
Plus, it seems the enthusiasm has already started to wane. During the first full week of the year, investors plowed a record $7.7 billion into U.S. stock mutual funds, nearly twice the latest weekly inflow amount.
Related: What's behind the bull market
U.S. stocks have been steadily rising since the start of the year, with the Dow and S&P 500 gaining about 5%, and both indexes are now within spitting distance of their all-time highs reached in October 2007.
As investors stepped back into the stock market, CNNMoney's Fear & Greed Index shifted deep into extreme greed. Just two months ago, it was sitting in fear. While there's definitely been a shift in sentiment, investors remain cautious. The current bull market is entering its final phase, which can last awhile but which can also cause some volatility.
Meanwhile, investors' love affair with bonds is going strong, despite growing worries of a bond bubble. During the latest week, they added more than $8 billion to bond mutual funds, ICI data showed. That brings the year's total inflow into bonds to more than $28 billion. In 2012, investors flooded bond funds with more than $300 billion.
Hybrid funds, which invest in both stocks and bonds, remain in favor among investors, gaining $1.9 billion in the latest week.
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Investors yank $150 billion from stocks for 3rd year
The U.S. stock market has been on a bull run since early 2009. At the same time, individual investors have been pulling billions of dollars out of stocks each year.
As the S&P 500 rallied about 13% during the first eleven months of 2012, individual investors yanked about $152 billion from the U.S. stock market, according to data from EPFR Global, a Boston-based firm that tracks fund flows for both mutual MORE
Hibah Yousuf - Dec 27, 2012 7:32 AM ETPosted in: bonds, ETFs, fund flows, institutional investors, investors, mutual funds, retail investors, stocks -
Flight out of stocks slows
Investors continued to pull money out of U.S. stock funds last week, but the pace of outflows slowed considerably.
U.S. stock mutual funds lost just $481 million in the week ended Nov. 28, according to the Investment Company Institute, far less than the previous week's $7.5 billion withdrawal.
In total, investors have yanked more than $14 billion during the three weeks following President Obama's re-election, as they turn their attention to the MORE
Hibah Yousuf - Dec 7, 2012 10:05 AM ET -
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 MORE
Maureen Farrell - Oct 4, 2012 12:45 PM ET -
Foreign investors buy $16.7 billion worth of U.S. securities in June
Investors in the rest of the world continued to buy U.S. investments in June, the Treasury Department said Wednesday.
Foreign investors purchased a total of $16.7 billion worth of U.S. securities, according to the latest Treasury International Capital (TIC) report. That's down sharply from May, when the same class of investors bought a total of $121.3 billion worth of U.S. securities.
TIC data measure the flow of funds into and out of MORE
Ben Rooney - Aug 15, 2012 11:34 AM ET -
Investors yank $5.7 billion from U.S. stocks - most in 10 weeks
The flight out of U.S. stocks picked up speed last week, as investors were left disappointed by the Federal Reserve's failure to take steps to stimulate the economy.
Investors yanked $5.7 billion out of U.S. stock mutual funds during the week ended Aug. 1, more than twice the amount pulled during the prior week, and the most since the week ended May 23. The outflow was also the fourth-biggest this year.
Investors MORE
Hibah Yousuf - Aug 9, 2012 9:31 AM ET -
Investors still running away from stocks
Investors recently dipped a toe back in the stock market, but the water was apparently not fine.
According to the latest report on mutual fund flows from the Investment Company Institute, investors pulled $2.1 billion out of U.S. stock mutual funds during the week ended July 25. That came after modest inflows of $99 million during the prior week.
Overall, investors have been taking money out of domestic stock mutual funds for MORE
Ben Rooney - Aug 2, 2012 12:57 PM ET -
Investors dip a toe back in the stock market
Investors have mostly been pulling their money out of the stock market this year, but last week investors showed a little ounce of love for stocks.
According to the Investment Company Institute, investors added $99 million to U.S. stock mutual funds in the week ended July 18. While that's not much, it's a welcome change from the usual flight from stocks.
The inflow came as investors hoped that the Federal Reserve may MORE
Hibah Yousuf - Jul 26, 2012 2:12 PM ET -
Investors end 14-week stock exodus
In an unexpected twist, investors added money to U.S. stocks during the final week of May, even as the market closed out one of the its worst months in years.
According to the Investment Company Institute, investors added $807 million to U.S. stock mutual funds in the week ended May 30. While that's not much at all, the sudden move ends a 14-week-long exodus out of stocks. In fact, the inflows follow MORE
Hibah Yousuf - Jun 6, 2012 3:45 PM ET
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