Investors went back to bailing out of the stock market during the first week of June, as worries about sluggish U.S. job growth and ongoing debt problems in Europe kept investors on edge.
U.S. stock mutual funds lost $3.1 billion in the week ended June 6, according to the Investment Company Institute. That marks the 15th out of 16 weeks that investors have yanked money out. In an unexpected twist, investors added money to U.S. stocks during the final week of May.
June began with Wall Street suffering its bloodiest day of the year, triggered by an ugly jobs report for May. During the first few days of the month, the S&P 500 (SPX) and Nasdaq (COMP) moved into correction territory, down more than 10% from the year's highs, while the Dow (INDU) flirted with that threshold.
The losses also came as the Spanish banking system teetered on the edge of collapse, prior to last weekend's bank bailout. The threat of Greece exiting the eurozone also continued to loom.
Since the beginning of the year, investors have pulled nearly $48 billion from U.S. stock mutual funds. By comparison, the funds brought in $6.4 billion during the first five months of 2011, and lost just $18 billion during the first five months of 2010.
Meanwhile, bond mutual funds raked in $1.6 billion in assets, compared to the previous week's $211 million outflow.
Hybrid funds, which invest in both stocks and bonds, lost $1.2 billion during the first week of June. It was a departure from the recent trend, as hybrid funds have enjoyed inflows for most of 2012
http://buzz.money.cnn.com/2012/06/13/us-stock-bond-fund-flow/?iid=Lead
Realist - Everybody in America is soft, and hates conflict. The cure for this, both in politics and social life, is the same -- hardihood. Give them raw truth.
| 