Mutual-fund investors aren’t giddy, but they continue to buy in.
As the stock market hit records in the second quarter that just ended, investors sent their cash to both stock and bond funds.
Investors put a net $10.0 billion into U.S.-stock mutual funds and exchange-traded funds, and $56.7 billion into international-stock funds, based on Investment Company Institute estimates. As often happens, they invested much more—a net $161.8 billion—in bond funds, partly to protect themselves for the day when the bull market falters.
Still, even with the bond protection, investors have been willing to step in to the stock party.
“The really big notable thing in the second quarter is we continued to see a robust pace for global equity flow,” says Gargi Chaudhuri, managing director and head of investment strategy in the Americas for iShares in New York.