The Buzz
Bad timing? Investors yanked $1.1 billion from stocks
March 6, 2013: 1:05 PM ET
For the first time this year, investors took money off the table.
According to the latest data from the Investment Company Institute, investors pulled $1.13 billion from U.S. stock mutual funds during the week ended Feb. 27. That's the first time investors took money out of stocks this year, and it came just days before the Dow hit a record high.
But that doesn't mean the tide has turned. One week of outflows is not a trend. And after yanking more than $150 billion from U.S. stocks during each of the past three years, investors still have plenty of money sitting on the sidelines.
Stocks have continued to head higher thanks to a string of better-than-expected economic reports and stimulus moves by the Federal Reserve.
Add to that the fact that the U.S. economy did not fall off the fiscal cliff, and things are looking up. Even the forced budget cuts, aka the sequester, aren't getting investors down.
"As we get further and further away from the crisis, people get more confident," said Doug DePietro, managing director in institutional equities at Evercore Partners. "I wouldn't take too much from one week's data."
So far this year, investors have put roughly $20 billion into U.S. stocks. International stocks are also drawing strong interest. In the latest week, international stock funds attracted $2.18 billion, bringing the year-to-date tally to just over $34 billion.
"People still want to own the market," said DePietro.
Related: Dow at a record...sort of
But bonds, which are perceived as less risky than stocks, continue to attract solid interest as well. Bond funds took in nearly $5 billion last week, bringing the year's total to just over $50 billion. Hybrid funds, which invest in both stocks and bonds, brought in $2.4 billion last week.
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Investor fear on the rise
Political gridlock in Italy is unhinging investors.
Investors worry the results of Italy's election could wind up undermining the progress that Italy has made in overhauling its troubled economy.
"It was the worst possible outcome, feared by market participants and European policy-makers alike," said Daiwa Capital Markets European economist Tobias Blattner.
U.S. stocks spiraled downward in a late-day frenzied sell-off Monday. European markets followed their cue and sold off sharply early Tuesday.
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The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Paul R. La Monica. Other than Time Warner, the parent of CNNMoney, and Abbott Laboratories, La Monica does not own positions in any individual stocks.
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The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Paul R. La Monica. Other than Time Warner, the parent of CNNMoney, and Abbott Laboratories, La Monica does not own positions in any individual stocks.
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The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Paul R. La Monica. Other than Time Warner, the parent of CNNMoney, and Abbott Laboratories, La Monica does not own positions in any individual stocks.
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