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“Inflows into foreign stock funds have been so heavy this year that bulls should be concerned,” said David Santschi, Chief Executive Officer of TrimTabs. “Big inflows from fund investors often occur near market tops.”

In a note to clients, TrimTabs explained that global equity mutual funds and exchange-traded funds received an all-time record $34.4 billion in January. While inflows subsided to $20.1 billion in February, last month’s inflow was still the second-highest since October 2007.

“It’s remarkable that U.S. investors are convinced the grass is greener offshore even though global equities have been underperforming,” said Santschi. “The average U.S. equity fund is up 6.2% so far this year, more than double the average global equity fund’s 2.4% gain.”

TrimTabs reported that U.S. equity mutual funds and exchange-traded funds issued $5.9 billion in February, down from $32.0 billion in January. Bond mutual funds and exchange-traded funds issued $17.2 billion in February, down from $33.5 billion in January.

“Inflows into U.S. stocks slumped dramatically last month,” said Santschi. “But global equity funds raked in more than $1 billion daily in fresh cash, and inflows didn’t slow much as the month progressed.” TrimTabs said the previous two-month record for inflows into global equity mutual funds and ETFs was $49.1 billion in January and February of 2006 amid growing enthusiasm over investments in emerging markets and China, in particular.

Press release

bc