Fiscal deal, new year fuels surge into stock funds

BOSTON (AP) — The so-called "fiscal cliff" agreement apparently is boosting investor confidence. The flow of cash into stock mutual funds during the first week of 2013 was the largest in more than 11 years.

Fund tracker Lipper says that U.S. stock funds as well as funds investing in foreign stocks attracted a total $7.5 billion in net deposits during the weeklong period ended Wednesday. That's the largest total since the week ended May 2, 2001.

The latest period's total was far larger, factoring in the $10.8 billion in net deposits to exchange-traded funds investing in stocks.

Lipper analyst Tom Roseen says the Jan. 1 deal between Congress and the White House to limit tax increases and delay automatic spending cuts encouraged investors to put their money to work in the market.