Equity Funds Post Biggest Outflow in 8 Weeks

U.S. equity funds saw huge money withdrawals in the seven days to March 1 on reinforced worries about the Federal Reserve’s policy tightening after economic data pointed to stickier-than-expected inflation.

Refinitiv Lipper data showed investors offloaded a net $12.9 billion worth of U.S. equity funds, booking their biggest weekly disposal since Jan. 4.

Meanwhile, money market funds drew a net $64.86 billion, the biggest weekly inflow in eight weeks, amid a risk-off mood among investors.

U.S. large- and mid-cap equity funds faced $6.27 billion and $267 million worth of outflows, while investors drew $1.32 billion out of the small cap funds, snapping a four-week-long buying streak.

Healthcare, tech, and utilities lost $797 million, $581 million and $450 million, respectively in net selling, but industrials obtained about $542 million worth of inflows.

Meanwhile, U.S. bond funds obtained $2.79 billion in inflows after witnessing two weeks of net selling.

Investors purchased U.S. short/intermediate government & treasury funds of $4.75 billion, while general domestic taxable fixed-income funds attracted $1.9 billion worth of inflows. Still, high-yield funds lost about $2 billion in a third straight week of outflows.