Portfolio - Mutual Funds

U.S. Stock Funds Post Year’s Biggest Outflow

by: Margarida Correia

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

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Outflows from U.S. stock funds accelerated in early October to an all-time high this year, according to the latest statistics from the Investment Company Institute. For the week ended Oct. 3, investors yanked an estimated $10.6 billion from mutual funds that invest long term in U.S. equities, bringing total outflows for the year to more than $103 billion. 

Non-U.S. stock funds also suffered, losing an estimated $483 million in outflows.

What stock funds lost, bond funds gained. Bond funds took in an estimated $10.87 billion in inflows, its largest weekly inflow so far this year. Of the $10.87 billion, an estimated $8.06 billion went into taxable bond funds with the remaining $2.82 billion going into municipal bond funds.

Hybrid funds — those that invest in both stocks and fixed income securities — also posted an inflow, taking in an estimated $2.26 billion, a reversal from the previous week’s $386 million outflow.

All told, mutual funds attracted an estimated $2.05 billion for the week, a big boost from the meager $359 million they took in a week earlier.

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.