A pretty stunning chart on the historic disconnect between stock mutual fund flows and stock market returns comes from the Investment Company Institute via this item at Zero Hedge a short time ago. Apparently, you don’t need your typical 401K stock mutual fund investor anymore for stocks to keep going up.

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Yes, that area shaded in pink on the far right is the region that everyone has been talking about lately and the recent reversal in fund flows might mean that, for once, retail investors are ahead of the curve (literally), rather than behind it.