Investors snubbed U.S. stock mutual funds yet again, according to the latest statistics from the Investment Company Institute.
For the week ended May 9, investors pulled an estimated $2.41 billion from mutual funds that invest long-term in U.S. stocks. The bit of good news is that the outflow slowed from the $5.45 billion that was withdrawn from the funds a week earlier. For the year, domestic funds have lost more than $34 billion in outflows.
Investors instead opted for non-U.S. stock funds, adding an estimated $1.12 billion to the funds for the week. That’s more than seven times the $142 million they put into global funds a week earlier.
Not surprisingly, bond funds gained the greatest share of the week’s inflows, taking in an estimated $7.59 billion, up slightly from $7.50 billion the week before. Of the $7.59 billion, an estimated $6.09 billion went to taxable bond funds with the remaining $1.50 billion going to municipal bond funds.
Hybrid funds — those that invest in both stocks and fixed income securities — received $617 million in estimated inflows, up significantly from $36 million the previous week.
Overall, mutual funds posted a respectable estimated inflow of $6.91 billion, more the three times the $2.22 billion inflow the week before.
The weekly fund flow estimates are derived from data covering more than 95% of industry assets, according to ICI. The statistics cover long-term mutual funds, those the ICI defines as investing in long-term instruments.
