NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- The S&P 500 appears to be firmly in the jaws of bears, but data actually show that U.S. investors are slowly turning bullish on equities again.

Mutual fund data from research firm TrimTabs suggests that retail investors are bottom-fishing, dipping a toe into the pool of U.S. stocks. The data come as the major stock indices are plunging anew, with the S&P 500 down 4% Thursday and the

Dow Jones Industrial Average

also down 4% shortly before 11:30 a.m. ET

TrimTabs says that preliminary figures show that U.S. equity mutual funds saw inflows of $6 billion on Aug. 15 and Aug. 16 after redeeming $41.8 billion in the previous 12 sessions.

If that $41.8 billion figure seems large, it is. In all of 2010, U.S. equity mutual funds shed $83.6 billion, about double the losses in those 12 sessions. In all of 2009, those funds saw only $38 billion flow out.

"It appears that price stabilization has stopped the heavy bleeding, at least for now," TrimTabs researchers note.

The bullish indicators aren't limited to TrimTabs' data. The American Association of Individual Investors, or AAII, Investor Sentiment Survey, which measures the percentage of individual investors who are bullish, bearish, and neutral on the stock market for the next six months, shows that bullish sentiment increased 2.1% for the week ended Aug. 17. Bearish sentiment fell 5%, while neutral sentiment increased 2.8%.

Exchange-traded funds, or ETFs, have also been a popular spot for investors in the last week. U.S. equity ETFs pulled in $1.2 billion in the three trading sessions ended Aug. 16, which follows six trading sessions that saw $8.8 billion bleed out.

TrimTabs says that ETF investors are upbeat on utilities, consumer staples, and energy.

The

Utilities SPDR

(XLU) - Get Report

brought in 9.4% of assets in the past week, followed by the 8.7% haul for the

Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR

(XLP) - Get Report

.

The

Energy Select Sector SPDR

(XLE) - Get Report

, meanwhile, brought in 5.8% of assets on Aug. 16 alone, although TrimTabs researchers say that investors "might be chasing performance," as the XLU is up 5.3% this year, the XLP has gained 2.8%, and XLE is up 0.2%, all among the top four ETFs performers this year.

ETF investors remain bearish on the rest of the world, though. Europe, China, Japan, and Latin America equity ETFs all bled assets in the past week, TrimTabs said. Meanwhile, it appears investors have not been buying bonds, either, as the data show that U.S. bond mutual funds redeemed $12 billion in the nine trading sessions ended Aug. 16. At this rate, it would be the first monthly outflow for bond funds since December 2010, according to TrimTabs.

In addition, the TrimTabs Demand Index (TTDI), which uses 21 flow and sentiment variables to time U.S. stocks, sharply increased last week to a reading of 85.7, up from 65.2 on Aug. 8. While most of that increase is attributable to the reversal in ETF flows, TrimTabs says data show that sideline cash sits at low levels as managers are full invested.

"The only thing wrong with blue-chip, mega-cap, fat-dividend stocks might be that just about everyone on the planet is recommending them," TrimTabs researchers note.

-- Written by Robert Holmes in Boston

.

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

Robert Holmes

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