D.C.-based research firm, long-term mutual funds investing in equities saw outflows of $7.97 billion in the week ended Dec. 7 with domestic funds seeing $5.76 billion walk out the door and international funds saying goodbye to $2.21 billion.

That drop comes on the heels of $9.62 billion worth of equity fund outflows in the previous week ended Nov. 30, the same day that the Dow Jones Industrial Average soared nearly 500 points on news of the coordinated efforts of the world's central banks to backstop liquidity.

Overall, long-term mutual funds saw outflows of $3.33 billion last week as bond funds and hybrid funds, which invest in both bonds and equities, experienced inflows of $3.55 billion and $1.09 billion respectively.

Equity funds have seen outflows totaling $27.23 billion over the past five weeks, according to ICI, which bases its estimates on data covering more than 95 percent of industry assets. Over the same stretch, bond funds have received inflows of $21.91 billion while hybrid funds saw outflows of $4.43 billion.

The continued rush out of equities is somewhat surprising because of the progress the markets seem to make at the end of November. Last week, the Dow and S&P 500 both gained ground, mainly because of a week-ending surge following what was at first deemed a fairly productive summit of Europe's leaders that yielded the substance of a plan to contain the region's sovereign debt crisis.

This week, however, has been a different story as confidence in the plan has faded with the major ratings agencies all voicing misgivings, German Chancellor Angela Merkel making it clear that there won't be a flexible cap on available bailout funds, and debt auctions illustrating rising investor nervousness all over again.

Interestingly enough, the rush out of equities by the more passive investors that populate mutual funds comes at a time when companies are at least saying they plan to buy back significantly more stock than they did last year.

Birinyi Associates totaled up the buyback authorizations announced in November earlier this week, saying the $37 billion announced last month brings the year-to-date total to $491 billion, up more than 40% from last year at this time.

That puts repurchase activity on pace for authorizations of $535 billion in 2011, Birinyi said, a total that would be the third highest all time behind $655 billion in 2006 and $863 billion in 2008.

The biggest authorizations this year as of Monday were Walt Disney , at a little more than $16 billion; JPMorgan Chase and Wal-Mart Stores at $15 billion; Intel , Amgen , ConocoPhillips , and Hewlett-Packard all at $10 billion.

Intel is actually the buyback king of 2011, announcing two separate $10 billion authorizations on Jan. 24 and Oct. 18. The chip maker's stock, despite pulling back after last week's revenue warning, has risen nearly 19% year-to-date.

Pfizer also joined $10 billion buyback club this week, announcing its own authorization on Monday. The Dow component's stock has appreciated 17.4% so far in 2011.

--Written by Michael Baron in New York.

>To contact the writer of this article, click here: Michael Baron.

Courtesy Yahoo Financial News

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