Ordinary Folks Losing Faith in Stocks

By: AP Email

Posted: Thu 2:01 PM, Dec 27, 2012

NEW YORK (AP) - Ordinary Americans are losing their faith in stocks: For the fifth year in a row, they are selling their holdings.

An analysis by The Associated Press finds that individual investors have pulled at least $380 billion from U.S. stock funds since April 2007. That is equal to all the money they put into the market in the previous five years.

The pullback has spread to public and private pension funds, brokerages and state and local governments.

And the selling has not let up despite a doubling of stock prices since March 2009.

It's the first time ordinary folks have sold during a sustained bull market since relevant records were first kept during World War II.

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