Investors continue to pull money out of mutual funds that invest long-term in U.S. stocks. According to the latest statistics from the Investment Company Institute, an estimated $5.76 billion left domestic equity mutual funds the week ended Dec. 7, continuing a long streak of net investor redemptions. Since May 1, investors have been pulled nearly $135 billion from U.S. stock funds.
Overall, for the week ended Dec. 7, investors withdrew an estimated $3.34 billion from long-term mutual funds, those the ICI defines as investing in long-term instruments.
Of the three types of long-term funds – equity, hybrid and bond – only equity funds experienced outflows for the week. Of the $7.97 billion that left stock funds, $2.21 billion was pulled from foreign equity funds, marking their fifth consecutive week of net redemptions.
Bonds funds, in contrast, had estimated inflows of $3.55 billion, more than three times the estimated $1.15 billion in inflows the previous week. Of the $3.55 billion, $2.09 billion went to taxable bond funds and $1.46 billion to municipal bond funds.
Hybrid funds, which invest in both stocks and fixed income securities, had estimated inflows of $1.09 billion for the week, compared with estimated outflows of $778 million the previous week.
Margarida Correia writes for
