Whether investors were feeling optimistic about the new year or not, estimated long-term mutual fund inflows jumped to $10.61 billion for the week ended Wednesday January 6, 2010, revealed the Investment Company Institute (ICI) on Wednesday.

This marks a strong showing compared to inflows of $3.684 billion for the previous week ended December 29. Fueling the upswing were 2009's star players –- bond funds -– which saw estimated inflows of $7.75 billion for this week, up from $4.21 billion for the previous week. Of this figure, taxable bond funds contributed $6.84 billion while municipal bond funds added $900 million.

Equity funds also posted higher inflows of $2.04 billion for this week, an about-face from the previous week's outflows of $982 million. Driving up inflows were foreign equity funds, which saw flows of $2.79 billion. For their part, domestic equity funds were the only scratch on an otherwise smooth surface, with estimated outflows of $742 million.

On the hybrid fund side, estimated inflows for this week came to $821 million, surpassing the previous week's inflows of $456 million. 

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