Jittery markets see bond funds benefit from biggest weekly inflows since November 2021 – Reuters

Photo for illustration. A man is silhouetted on an electronic board showing the FTSE MIB index for the Italian stock market in this photo taken in Rome August 9, 2011. REUTERS/Tony Gentile./File Photo

LONDON, Aug 5 (Reuters) – Bond funds posted their biggest weekly inflow since the end of 2021, while equity funds sold off, suggesting investors are becoming more risk averse amid the global downturn. darkening outlook for the global economy.

Investors poured $11.7 billion into bonds in the week to Wednesday — the biggest such inflow into fixed-income securities since November 2021, BofA said Friday in a research note citing analysts. EPFR data.

Over the past three weeks, the bank’s private clients have bought bonds in larger quantities since 2012, BofA said.

Reflecting a pivot away from riskier assets, equity funds suffered weekly outflows of $2.6 billion as Europe recorded its 25th week of negative equity flows.

Contrary to the trend, financial stocks saw their first inflow since March 2022, picking up $1 billion, while investors bought $1.2 billion worth of consumer stocks – the biggest inflow in ten weeks.

BofA analysts also said their “Bull & Bear” indicator, which seeks to track market trends, remains unchanged at an “extremely bearish” level.

Reporting by Lucy Raitano, editing by Karin Strohecker

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