US mutual fund outflows surge after downgrade -ICI

NEW YORK, Aug 17 (Reuters) - 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 on 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.

Estimated flows to long-term mutual funds:

7/27/2011 8/3/2011 8/10/2011
---------------------------------------------------------
Total Equity -9,324 -13,012 -30,004
Domestic -7,997 -10,463 -23,493
Foreign -1,327 -2,549 -6,511
Hybrid -73 -1,092 -5,902
Total Bond -223 -2,865 -4,378
Taxable -79 -2,204 -3,244
Municipal -144 -661 -1,135
---------------------------------------------------------
Total -9,620 -16,969 -40,285
(Reporting by Daniel Bases; Editing by Leslie Adler)