Investors in funds based in the United States pulled a net $5.1 billion out of stock funds in the latest week, even as strong economic data lifted U.S. stock indices over the period, data from Thomson Reuters' Lipper service showed on Thursday.

The outflows from stock funds in the week ended Sept. 4 marked the third straight week of net withdrawals from the funds, even as U.S. stock prices broadly rose on data showing upwardly-revised U.S. economic growth and strength in manufacturing.

Outflows of $5.91 billion from stock exchange-traded funds accounted for the total net outflows from stock funds. Investors withdrew $3.04 billion from the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust, even as the S&P 500 stock index rose 1.1 percent over the period.

Investors still committed $781.8 million to stock mutual funds, but that amount marked the smallest inflows since early June.

ETFs are generally believed to represent the investment behavior of institutional investors, while mutual funds are thought to represent retail investor patterns.

Emerging market stock funds had $819.3 million in outflows in the week ended Sept. 4, marking the first net outflows from the funds since July even as the MSCI Emerging Markets Index of global emerging market stocks rose 3.1 percent.

Investors also withdrew $503 million from taxable bond funds, marking the third straight week of outflows from the funds as the yield on benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury notes rose 13 basis points to 2.9 percent over the week.

The strong U.S. economic data bolstered expectations that the U.S. Federal Reserve would soon begin scaling back its $85 billion in monthly bond purchases.

Commodities and precious metals funds, which mainly invest in gold futures, had net outflows of $120 million, marking their first outflows in four weeks. Investors also withdrew $2.6 billion from money market funds, marking the first outflows from these funds in five weeks.