Mutual fund investors are cautiously returning to the surging stock market. They're depositing more into stock funds than they're withdrawing, a reversal from most of the past year.

Industry consultant Strategic Insight says that investors deposited a net $3.6 billion into U.S. stock funds last month. The two-month total including January is about $5 billion.

The last time stock funds attracted cash for two months in a row was in March and April 2011. From May through December, withdrawals exceeded deposits each month.

Strategic Insight attributes the change to fading memories of market volatility as stocks rise. The Standard & Poor's 500 is up 9 percent this year.

However, bond funds continue to attract more cash than stock funds. Net deposits into bond funds totaled nearly $36 billion in February.