Global Finance: Stock Funds Continue Long Retreat
Long-term mutual funds climbed by $2.05 billion in the latest week on gains to bond and hybrid funds, though equity funds recorded their steepest outflows so far this year, according to the Investment Company Institute.</br></br>ICI has reported fund inflows for most of the year as investors have continued to pour money into bond and hybrid funds. However, U.S. equities have experienced mostly outflows as investors look to retreat from a volatile stock market.</br></br>For the week ended Oct. 3, equity funds had outflows of $11.08 billion, compared with prior-week outflows of $7.55 billion. U.S. equity funds fell by $10.6 billion while foreign equity funds slipped by $483 million.</br></br>Bond funds had inflows of $10.87 billion, up from prior-week gains of $8.32 billion. Taxable funds rose by $8.06 billion and municipal funds drew in $2.82 billion. Hybrid funds, which can invest in both stocks and fixed-income assets, had inflows of $2.26 billion, compared with prior-week outflows of $386 million.</br></br>Meanwhile, assets in money-market funds decreased by $2.51 billion in the latest week as investors pulled more money from government funds than they added to prime and tax-free funds, according to iMoneyNet.