Stock mutual-fund flows are now in positive territory, hitting a 17-month high during the week ending Oct. 15, according to Goldman Sachs.

It was the first positive week since April 2010 and the highest since May of 2009, the financial institution reported, according to Business Insider.

“Our preliminary estimates and Lipper FMI data suggest that equity fund flows came in surprisingly strong for the current week at $7.5 billion,” Goldman Sachs reports.

“This compares to $4.3 billion of outflows in the prior week. Domestic fund flows outstripped non-U.S. for the first time since April 2010, with a notable pick-up in equity income funds.”

The news comes at a time when the Federal Reserve is planning ways to prop up the economy.

The Fed is “prepared to provide additional accommodation if needed to support the economic recovery and to return inflation over time to levels consistent with our mandate,” Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke says, according to the AFP newswire.

Bernanke’s comments are fueling expectations the Fed will pump billions of dollars into the economy to get the country out of its economic doldrums.

The consumer price index rose 0.1% in September, lower than expected, while the core index, which excludes food and energy prices, remained unchanged, according to the Labor Department.

Those inflation figures have market watchers predicting the Fed to prop up the economy via purchasing debt from banks to facilitate more lending.

“If anything that may make them more likely to embark on asset purchases, and that may mean they're going to be more aggressive with those asset purchases,” said Richard Bryant, head of treasury trading at MF Global Securities, tells Reuters.