U.S. equity funds see outflows on growth woes, political risks
9:14 am Friday, September 13th, 2024
(Reuters) – U.S. equity funds experienced significant outflows in the week through Sept. 11, as investor caution mounted due to weak economic data and growing political uncertainties ahead of the U.S. presidential election.
According to LSEG data, investors sold a net $7.82 billion worth of U.S. equity funds during the week, marking a fifth weekly outflow in six weeks.
Last week’s U.S. payroll data revealed ongoing economic strains, sparking a stock sell-off, but Wall Street rebounded on expectations of a significant rate cut in the Federal Reserve meeting next week.
Investors withdrew a substantial $6.91 billion from growth funds last week, the largest weekly outflow since December 2023, while redirecting $4.1 billion into value funds, marking the highest since at least December 2020.
U.S. sectoral funds also saw significant withdrawals totalling $2.16 billion, the most in five weeks, with the financial, tech, and industrial sectors losing $1.75 billion, $1.17 billion, and $582 million, respectively.
Conversely, safe-haven assets like government bond funds and money market funds attracted $3.51 billion and $18.17 billion, respectively.
U.S. bond funds continued their positive trend with $4.94 billion in net inflows for the 15th consecutive week, and domestic taxable fixed income funds gained $1.75 billion following the previous week’s $2 billion in inflows.
Short-to-intermediate government and municipal debt funds also saw significant inflows of $1.28 billion and $1.26 billion, respectively.
(Reporting by Gaurav Dogra and Patturaja Murugaboopathy in Bengaluru; Editing by Alison Williams)
