Investors continued to add money to stock mutual funds in the second full week of 2013, reversing course from last year. Bond funds continued to attract new cash.
Stocks:
Investors deposited a net $5.05 billion into U.S. stock funds during the weeklong period ended Jan. 16, the Investment Company Institute said in a preliminary report Wednesday. That was down from the previous week's net deposits of $7.73 billion.
Before the period ended Jan. 9, withdrawals from U.S. stock funds had exceeded deposits for 24 weeks in a row, dating to mid-July.
Investors have been encouraged this year by the so-called "fiscal cliff" agreement reached Jan. 1 between Congress and the White House. The deal limited income tax increases to the highest earners and delayed automatic federal spending cuts. Stock rallied on the agreement, and the Standard & Poor's 500 index gained 4.8 percent for the year through Wednesday.
Investors have also been adding cash this year to funds investing primarily in foreign stocks. A net $4.27 billion was added to those funds in the latest weeklong period, down from nearly $7 billion in the preceding week.
Bonds:
Bond mutual funds consistently added cash through 2012, a trend that has continued into the new year. Investors deposited a net $10.6 billion into bond funds during the period ended Jan. 16, up from $9.42 billion in the previous week.
A net $8.36 billion was deposited into taxable bond funds, which primarily invest in corporate bonds. Investors added $2.24 billion to municipal bond funds, which invest in bonds issued by state and local governments.
During the latest week, a net $2.12 billion was deposited into hybrid funds, which invest in both stocks and bonds.
Overall, investors deposited a net $22.04 billion into long-term mutual funds of all types during the week. That was down from net deposits of $26.55 billion in the previous week.
