U.S. stock fund outflows highest in 5 years

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Mirroring the sell-off in U.S. stocks, this week saw the biggest outflow from U.S. stock mutual funds in five years, according to TrimTabs.

For the week ending Thursday, fund investors cashed out a net of $11.3 billion. The biggest outflow came Tuesday, when investors cashed out a net $5.5 billion, making it the second-highest daily outflow of the year. The highest occurred on Feb. 27, when investors sold a net $6.5 billion worth of U.S.-focused funds following a plunge in the Chinese stock market.

On Thursday, when the Dow tumbled 311 points, the funds saw a net outflow of $4.2 billion.

Other types of funds took a hit as well.

Foreign-stock funds shed $1.6 billion for the week, versus an inflow of $2.0 billion the previous week.

Exchanged-traded funds had outflows of $6.3 billion for the week, versus an inflow of $4 billion the week before.

Investors took $1.1 billion out of bond funds, compared to an inflow of $4.2 billion during the previous week.

Markets closed down again on Friday, increasing the likelihood that next week's data will show a net outflow as well, according to Vincent Deluard, a global equity strategist at TrimTabs. (How to profit from market drops.)

The Dow closed above 14,000 for the first time on July 19. But that ground was lost this week as stock markets fell on concerns over housing, corporate credit and news of weak earnings.