The market's recent run has investors on the hunt for where to put their money. So where are the biggest bets being placed in 2013?

According to data by IndexUniverse, an independent data provider covering the ETF industry, investors seem to be avoiding lower-yielding securities and, instead, piling into more international funds.

WisdomTree Japan Hedged Equity, for example, received net flows of over a $1 billion in January. The fund's strategy provides exposure to equities in Japan, while hedging against fluctuations between the value of the U.S. dollar and the Japanese yen.

Emerging markets funds, which were hot in 2012, continue to show strength this year on the heels of economic improvements in the U.S. and abroad.

The largest outflows appear to be centered around some of the ETFs tracking U.S. equities, U.S. fixed income and gold.

The ETF business is booming -- assets under management jumped 25 percent last month to a record $1.4 trillion. In fact, it's one of the few areas in the financial services business that is growing robustly.

ETFs track indexes and provide broad diversification, similar to mutual funds, though inherent differences exist between the two products. The ETF space represents only one-tenth of the mutual fund industry, but ETFs' traction is growing as retail investors embrace them as a fast, efficient and economical way to trade.

So far in 2013, fund flows for international equity, U.S. equity and international fixed income are leading the charts.

Stock ETFs, in particular, have gained momentum, attracting $29 billion in assets in January, on top of $121 billion last year. At this rate, stock ETFs are on track to nearly triple last year's inflows.

Both stock ETFs and mutual funds saw four-consecutive weeks of inflows in January, according to ICI. However, stock mutual funds shed more than $152 billion in assets last year.

U.S. stocks posted strong gains in January, as the Dow Jones Industrial Average continueU.S. stocks posted strong gains in January, as the S&P 500 continued to trade near an all-time high.

The S&P 500 gained 5 percent in the first month of 2013, logging its best January performance since 1997. Similarly, the Dow surged nearly a thousand points or 5.77 percent, its largest increase since 1994.

With the markets on a roll, will January signal the market's direction this year? Since 1950, the "January Barometer" predicted the direction for the year with 81 percent accuracy.

The correlation is even stronger when the market finishes January in the black, proceeding with full-year gains 90 percent of the time.

Consider the last five decades, for example, when there were 11 other instances that the S&P 500 rose at least 5 percent.

In all of those years, with the exception of 1987, the index recorded double-digit gains of at least 16 percent.

Even in 1987, when stock markets around the world crashed during "Black Monday", the S&P 500 managed to finish the year positive, up 2 percent.

While past performance does not guarantee future results, investors often look at history as a point of reference.

Below is a look at the full-year gains when the S&P 500 was up more than 5 percent in January dating back to 1950.

The market giveth, and the market taketh away.

The woes dogging technology giant Apple sent its stock hurtling to its lowest levels in a year on Friday, while suffering the added misfortune of losing its mantle as "world's most valuable company" to Exxon Mobil.

The company, which disappointed Wall Street with its earnings release this week, is being buffeted by doubts about its ability to compete with challenger Samsung. The reversal of fortune has been both quick and dramatic, with some surveys now showing Samsung's Galaxy smartphone now edging out the iPhone in market share.

(Read More: Apple's Revenue Falls Short, Shares Dive)

That pessimism has shaved more than $247 billion from the iPhone maker's market capitalization — forcing it to sacrifice its title to Exxon, which it first surpassed back in 2011. In Friday's dealings, the two giants of their respective industries were tussling for the coveted top spot.

More than 93 percent of the S&P 500 are trading above their moving 50-day moving average. Some of those companies, however, have significantly broken out from their trading range.

Price momentum is a relatively short-term occurrence, and as it starts to wane, the stocks that have deviated too far and fast from the average tend to revert back quickly.

The S&P 500, which has maintained a measured upside momentum since the beginning of the year, is barely up 5 percent from its 50-day moving average.

Case in point: Netflix. NFLX gained more than 42 percent on Thursday after it reported blockbuster fourth-quarter earnings. The most recent close of $146.86 is more than 61 percent away from its 50-day moving average of 91.03, making it the most widely deviated stock.

Similarly, Stryker, which traded within a 10 percent range throughout last year, is up another 16 percent year-to-date, trading more than 13 percent away from its 50-day moving average.

Here are some additional names that have seen new upside momentum in recent months.

Bulls continue to rule the stock market. A widespread rally on Wall Street this year, lifted nearly 37 percent of the S&P 500 components to a new 52-week high.

Major equity benchmarks like the Dow Transports, Russell 2000, and S&P MidCap 400 index, for example, are trading at new highs, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 reached a new five-year high during Tuesday's session.

Investors tend to watch such levels in order to determine valuations and trends in a stock's performance.

So which are the stocks hitting the most 52-week highs in 2013? Coca Cola Enterprises and Plum Creek Timber lead the list, touching a new high in 12 of the last 14 trading sessions.

Some stocks that investors had given up for dead are finding new life in the current market rally.

Consider Research in Motion, which hit an 11-month high Friday. Shares are up 153 percent from their 52-week low of $6.22 back on Sept. 24.

In the past two weeks alone, RIMM is up 32 percent, making it the best 2-week period since November 23, when it rose 36 percent.

Similarly, Bank of America and Morgan Stanley are up 65 percent and 80 percent from their lows last year.

Other previously struggling names such as JDSU, Micron Technology and Sprint also posted gains greater than 50 percent.

Here's a look at some of the stocks making a strong comeback.

The Dow Transportation Average settled at a new record high during Tuesday's trading session, after rising 15 percent in the past two months.

The average, which lagged other major indices in 2012, is now leading the gainers in 2013, up more than 6 percent, compared to a 3 percent increase for the S&P 500 index , the Dow Jones Industrial Average, and the Nasdaq Composite Index.

Back in Oct. 17, CNBC's "By the Numbers" blog ran a story showing how the spread between the Dow industrial average and the Dow transports reached its widest point in six years. Historically, the spread between the two did not stay apart for long.

Delta Air Lines, Union Pacific, and FedEx are some of the names that have driven the average higher in the past two months.

As Wall Street braces for another earnings season, research firm Bespoke Investment Group has put together a list of companies that historically tend to beat earnings estimates.

Within the group, United Technology has the highest 'beat rate' at 96 percent, followed by Union Pacific, Johnson and Johnson and UnitedHealth with a rate of 91 percent.

Earnings per share and revenue estimates for the S&P 500 in Q4 of 2012 are expected to grow by 1.9 percent, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Compared to a year ago, analysts predict consumer discretionary and financial names will show the largest EPS growth, while utilities are projected to lead the way in revenue.

Here is a look at some of the large-cap stocks set to report in the next two weeks.

Facebook may have had a rough go out of the gate, while Wall Street darling Apple got all the attention. But in the past four months, that pairing has been flipped on its head.

Rewind to September: Shares of Facebook touched an all-time low of $17.73, while Apple's stock closed near an all-time high of $674.97.

Since then, Facebook has rocketed nearly 70 percent compared to a 22-percent decline for Apple.

That meteoric rise has made Facebook one of the best-performing stocks in the Nasdaq 100. Apple, on the other hand, is the worst.

During Wednesday's trading session, Facebook closed above $30 a share for the first time in 6 months.

A rolling 60-day correlation between AAPL and FB is at its lowest level on record. In fact, the two stocks have a negative correlation, implying that as one stock rises the other one falls, and vice versa.

While not a fool-proof strategy, if the negative correlation persists, FB may actually work as a hedge for AAPL.