Investors pulled a net of
nearly $11 billion in assets out of mutual funds and exchange-traded funds that
hold U.S. equities last week, the largest retreat from domestic stocks since
the final week of January, Investment Company Institute data released on
Wednesday showed.
The
move came during the final week of the best quarter for the benchmark S&P
500 index since 2009, and the best first quarter since 1998, according to
Refinitiv data. The S&P 500 is up nearly 15% year to date, boosted in part
by hopes for a breakthrough in U.S.-China trade talks and the U.S. Federal
Reserve's decision to pause interest rate hikes.
With last week's pullback,
investors have now sold a net total of about $10.2 billion in assets from
domestic stock funds over the 12 full weeks of the year, ICI said.
Investors
pulled a net of $190 million out of world stock funds last week, continuing a
six-week retreat from the category that began in late February. Despite those
losses, world stock funds have brought in a net of about $4.3 billion in assets
for the full year to date.
Bond
funds added a net of nearly $7.9 billion, continuing a streak of positive
inflows that dates to the first full week of the year. Over that time,
investors have sent a net of about $112 billion into funds that hold either
taxable or municipal bonds. The Vanguard Total Bond Market index fund, one of
the world's largest bond funds, is up 2.6 percent for the year to date.
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