BOSTON (AP) — Investors may be warming up to the stock market, little by little. Industry consultant Strategic Insight reported on Monday that deposits into stock mutual funds roughly equaled withdrawals in January.

It snapped an eight–month streak of investors pulling their money out each month. From May through December, net withdrawals totaled about $137 billion.

That trend ended as the stock market had its best start in 15 years, with the Standard & Poor's 500 index returning 4.5 percent in January.

Strategic Insight says investors deposited a net $3 billion into funds investing in foreign stocks. Bond funds remained popular, attracting a net $32 billion in new cash.

Near–zero returns continued to hurt money–market mutual funds. Investors withdrew a net $44 billion in January from money funds.