Investors boosted mutual fund inflows last week

Investors poured $11.05 billion into mutual funds for the one-week period ended July 22, according to the ICI. The estimated flows mark the highest weekly inflows for mutual funds since the one-week period ended June 17, when funds took in $11.14 billion, the Washington-based Investment Company Institute found. Equity funds had net inflows of $2.29 billion for the week, compared with net outflows of $921 million the previous week. Foreign stock funds led the gains with $1.86 billion in net inflows, outpacing the $438 million for domestic stock funds for the week. Hybrid funds, which invest in both equities and fixed-income securities, had net inflows of $592 million, compared with the $23 million in net inflows the prior week, the ICI reported. Bond funds had net inflows of $8.17 billion, marking the second-highest week of inflows since the one-week period ended June 3, when bond funds took in $8.46 billion. Among bond funds, taxable-bond funds had the largest net inflows, with $6.47 billion, and municipal-bond funds had net inflows of $1.7 billion.