The Buzz
Flight out of U.S. stock funds accelerates
November 30, 2012: 11:29 AM ET
Investors pulled $7.5 billion from U.S. stock mutual funds during the latest week, bringing the year's total outflow to more than $125 billion.
Investors have been pulling money of the U.S. stocks for months, but the pace of outflows has picked up during the past couple of weeks.
U.S. stock mutual funds lost more than $7.5 billion in the week ended Nov. 20, according to the Investment Company Institute, adding to the previous week's $6.6 billion withdrawal.
In total, investors have yanked more than $14 billion during the two weeks following President Obama's re-election, as they turn their attention to the debate over how to solve the fiscal cliff.
Investors are hopeful that lawmakers in Washington will come to an agreement that avoids the year-end tax hikes and spending cuts, but caution will prevail until an actual deal is struck. The so-called fiscal cliff could harm the economy at a time when the outlook for growth is already in question.
Related: Fiscal cliff countdown: Automatic spending cuts
The total outflow from stock funds now stands north of $125 billion for 2012.
While investors continue to favor bonds funds, demand has started to weaken a bit. During the latest week, investors added $4.5 billion to bond mutual funds, but that's less than the average $6.2 billion they've added each week in 2012.
And demand for international stock funds and hybrid funds, which invest in both stocks and bonds, is also losing traction. After attracting funds for most of the year, international stock funds and hybrid funds lost more than $1 billion each last week for a second straight week.
Overall, mutual funds across asset classes bled $5.5 billion last week -- the most since the start of 2012.
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Investors continue to flee stocks
Investors continued to exit the stock market last week, as worries about Europe's ongoing debt problems keep rattling investors.
U.S. stock mutual funds lost $1.5 billion during the week ended June 27, according to the Investment Company Institute. Investors have now withdrawn money from the stock market for 18 of the past 19 weeks.
The latest week's outflows were logged prior to the "breakthrough" deal struck by European leaders aimed at easing the recapitalization of banks. MORE
Hibah Yousuf - Jul 5, 2012 2:03 PM ET -
Investors exiting stocks at faster clip
Fear about Europe's raging debt crisis and a slowing global economy kept investors fleeing for the exits.
U.S. stock mutual funds lost $1.8 billion during the week ended June 13, according to the Investment Company Institute. (Last week, investors only pulled out $620 million.) Tallying it up, that means investors have withdrawn money from the stock market for 17 of the past 18 weeks.
For the month of May, investors yanked out MORE
Catherine Tymkiw - Jun 28, 2012 4:46 PM ET -
Exodus resumes: Investors yank $3 billion out of stock mutual funds
Investors went back to bailing out of the stock market during the first week of June, as worries about sluggish U.S. job growth and ongoing debt problems in Europe kept investors on edge.
U.S. stock mutual funds lost $3.1 billion in the week ended June 6, according to the Investment Company Institute. That marks the 15th out of 16 weeks that investors have yanked money out. In an unexpected twist, investors MORE
Hibah Yousuf - Jun 13, 2012 3:52 PM ET -
U.S. investors continue to flee stocks -- 14 weeks of outflows
Investors continued to pull their cash out of U.S. stocks last week as worries about the health of Spanish banks added to broader concerns about Europe's ongoing debt crisis.
U.S. stock mutual funds lost $7.2 billion in the week ended May 23, according to the Investment Company Institute, marking the 14th straight week that investors yanked money out, as well as the second biggest weekly outflow of the year. The biggest MORE
Hibah Yousuf - May 31, 2012 3:05 PM ET
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