March is on pace to become the fourth month running in which fund investors pull assets from equity. Midway through the month investors had pulled nearly $7 billion from equity funds and barring a quick end to the hostilities in Iraq the trend is likely to deepen.

Lipper said this morning that shareholders took $8 billion from funds in February. Lipper had reported $1 billion of outflows in January. All together funds shareholders yanked more money than they paid out during the month. Bond added a net $19.0 billion during February, Lipper said. However, those flows were more than offset by the $43.0 billion that drained from money market funds, Lipper said. Those number add up to a net withdrawal of $32 billion

Meanwhile, Santa Rosa, California-based Trim Tabs estimates that shareholders are on pace to pull $13.4 billion based on activity through March 18. Trim Tabs bases its estimates on a limited number of funds and estimates weekly flows. Unlike Lipper and the ICI that collect data for fund firms, Trim Tabs calculates its flows as a barometer of demand for and sells it to equity investors.  

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