American Investors Shun Stocks?.. Elite Retreat? McCain Drops Diet Bill

American Investors Shun Stocks? Friday, March 12, 2010 - by Staff Report Investors often flee the stock market and then jump back in, but too late for their own good. The evidence of the past year fits the pattern: New money coming to stock mutual funds has been negligible even as returns have been among the best on record. An influx into stocks in the coming months would suggest investors once again waited too long. They have reasons to be cautious, of course, While the market is up almost 70% in the past 12 months, many mutual funds are still below their pre-crisis peak. "There's still some sensitivity to how much was lost [in the bear market] – investors are still opening their 401(k) statements and seeing losses," said Todd Rosenbluth, mutual-fund analyst at Standard & Poor's. The question is whether the losses were so big that they scared investors away from stocks not just for the next few months, but also for years. "I don't know if we're seeing ...