Investors continued to steer money into stock mutual funds in February, though with much less enthusiasm. According to statistics released today by the Investment Company Institute, investors placed an estimated $1.04 billion into equity funds during the week ended Wednesday, Feb. 15, less than half the $3.64 billion they poured into the funds a week earlier.
Foreign stock funds received the lion’s share of the infusion, gaining $1.01 billion for the week. U.S. stock funds received the remaining $35 million.
Bond funds once again claimed the day, posting estimated inflows of $8.20 billion, their largest weekly inflow this year. Of the $8.20 billion, $6.46 billion went into taxable bond funds with the remaining $1.73 billion going into municipal bond funds.
Hybrid funds—those that invest in both stocks and fixed-income securities—took in a respectable $2.66 billion in new investments, up from the $2.49 billion they posted in inflows a week earlier.
All told, mutual funds posted estimated inflows of $11.90 billion for the week, down from the previous week’s inflow of $13.18 billion, which set a record for the year.
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.
Margarida Correia writes for
