Investors parked money in cash and bond funds as 2011 wound down to a close, unimpressed by the recent improvement to equity markets, according to figures on the US fund sector from TrimTabs Investment Research.

"During the past month more than $50 billion has flowed into bank savings accounts and another $30 billion has gone into bond funds. Safety is the most important criteria for investors today," Charles Biderman, chief executive of TrimTabs, said in a report.

Among the details, TrimTabs noted that money has been leaving gold, healthcare and China.

"Over the past month $2.2 billion left the Gold ETF (GLD), not surprising since GLD is down over 5 per cent in the month. About $800 million left the Healthcare ETF XLV  and also the China ETF FXI, both of which were basically unchanged in price over the past 30 days," Biderman said, "while money has continued to flow out of US equity mutual funds."

Meanwhile, the exchange-traded fund with the biggest inflow over the past month [December 2011] was the S&P 500 index fund (SPY), attracting $5.9 billion, TrimTabs said.

"Historically, January has been one of the biggest months for new inflows into equity mutual funds. January has also been one of the slowest months for new offerings since it takes several weeks to ramp up the new offering supply chain. As a result of more money chasing less new shares, the S&P 500 (SPY) usually has gone up not only during January but most of the time right up until tax time in April," Biderman added.