Finally, mutual funds see net inflows

Total estimated net inflows into long-term mutual funds of $902 million during the week ending Aug. 31 broke a six-week stretch of net outflows, according to the Investment Company Institute's latest data. The week's inflows across stock, bond and hybrid categories followed $2.3 billion in net outflows for the week ending Aug. 24. Hybrid funds, which can invest both in stocks and bonds, were the biggest contributor to the turnaround, seeing net inflows of $1.1 billion. Domestic equity funds had net outflows of $748 million, while foreign equity funds had net inflows of $617 million. Taxable bond funds had net outflows of $303 million, while municipal bond funds had net inflows of $227 million. The one-week turnaround, in which net inflows totaled less than $1 billion, was not nearly enough to push the month into positive territory. Total net outflows for August was $59.1 billion, compared with total net outflows of $21.5 billion in July and $8.8 billion in June. May had total net inflows of $17.7 billion.