Mutual Fund Outflows Surge After Downgrade

U.S. mutual funds had the largest outflows in nearly three years in the wake of the downgrade of the U.S. credit rating by Standard & Poor's, data from the Investment Company Institute showed Wednesday.

Investors pulled a net $40.3 billion out of those funds in the week ended Aug. 10, the largest weekly withdrawal since early October 2008, soon after the collapse of Lehman Brothers. Equity funds lost a total of $30 billion in the same period, their worst performance since late January 2008, said ICI, a U.S. mutual fund trade organization.

Domestic equities had the second highest net outflows since ICI started compiling weekly data in 2007. The estimated data captures withdrawals after the U.S. credit rating downgrade by Standard & Poor's on Aug. 5.