WASHINGTON (AP) -- Americans used to see Wall Street as a pretty safe place to invest for their retirement.
But a lot of people no longer see it that way, which could explain why investors have been moving their money away from stocks and into bonds.
About three out of five people surveyed by the Associated Press and CNBC say the market's recent swings have made them less confident about buying and selling individual stocks. And 55 percent say the market is fair only to some investors.
One retired couple in Utah say they shifted most of their portfolio into bonds after the market nose-dived two years ago. Louise Pollard says it's just a "gut feeling," but she doesn't have "any confidence in the stock market."
Others are making similar moves. The Investment Company Institute says over the past two and a-half years, investors pulled a net $244 billion out of stock mutual funds, while putting more than twice that amount into bond funds.
(Copyright ©2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
