US equity funds see outflows for 12th week in a row

Investors continued to withdraw from US equity funds for a 12th straight week in the seven days to Feb. 8 as a report showing robust US job additions in the last month fed fears that the US Federal Reserve would keep raising interest rates this year.

Refinitiv Lipper data showed investors exited a net $474 million worth of U.S. equity funds after disposing of $473 million worth of funds in the previous week.

US large- and mid-cap equity funds saw outflows of $3.82 billion and $675 million, respectively, but investors purchased $2.16 billion worth of small-cap funds, reported Reuters.

However, investors accumulated some sector-specific funds, with financials and tech witnessing inflows of $1.22 billion and $430 million, respectively.

Meanwhile, US bond funds continued to obtain inflows for the fifth week, amounting to a net $2.39 billion.

US general domestic taxable fixed income funds obtained $678 million, while short/intermediate investment-grade funds received $1.98 billion, marking a fifth weekly inflow. But investors drew $2.26 billion out of government bond funds.

Meanwhile, investors exited $19.78 billion worth of money market funds, their biggest weekly net selling in seven weeks.