Mutual Funds Inflows/Outflows

Recent Fund Flow Estimates
Date	Net Inflows/Outflows ($ Millions)
2 biz days ended Jan. 25	10,919
2 biz days ended Jan. 22	1,855
2 biz days ended Jan. 18	1,474
2 biz days ended Jan. 16	-3,775
3 biz days ended Jan. 11	13,249
2 biz days ended Jan. 8	-8,441
2 biz days ended Jan. 4	21,223
2 biz days ended Jan. 2	-15,900
2 biz days ended Dec. 28	6,109
2 biz days ended Dec. 26	9,792
Source: TrimTabs.com

Mutual fund investors dumped more than $10.9 billion into equity funds for the two days ended Jan. 25, estimated TrimTabs.com, a firm that tracks mutual fund inflows and outflows.

The latest inflows, however, seemed to be speculative in nature. Aggressive growth funds, for example, took in $5.7 billion, while growth and income funds took in just $304, one sign, says TrimTabs, of a speculative mood. Indeed, TrimTabs estimates that technology funds took in $298 million, the highest amount since April 19, 2000, when tech funds brought in $464 million.

For the two business days ended Jan. 25, the Nasdaq Composite fell 3%, the S&P 500 lost 0.2% and the Dow bucked the trend, rising 0.75%.

Why This Metric Matters Mutual funds are the biggest source of liquidity in the market, according to TrimTabs.com. When fund inflows slow or actually turn negative (outflows), then stock prices will likely turn downward as well. The stocks most heavily influenced by inflow changes are those that are most widely held by mutual funds, such as Microsoft (MSFT Quote) and Cisco (CSCO Quote) recently. TrimTabs.com computes its estimate of overall mutual fund inflows and outflows by tracking 534 equity funds. A definitive tally comes from the Investment Company Institute, the mutual fund trade group, which tracks more than 4000 equity funds. ICI only reports its data once a month, about thirty days after the end of the last month it's considering. Because of the lag in the ICI data, TrimTabs.com's twice-weekly estimate is closely followed by the market.

How Often Updated on TSC Twice weekly, Monday and Wednesday

Historical Info The highest inflows recorded in the year 2000 came during the week ending Feb. 3, when inflows totaled $18.4 billion. Those inflows helped the market register big gains for the week, with the Nasdaq rallying almost 9% and the Dow rising about 3%. The largest outflow recorded for the year, $12.1 billion, was for the week ending Oct. 12. That week the Dow fell nearly 6.5% and the Nasdaq almost 9%.

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