During the week ending February 11, European and Asian equity funds recorded strong inflows as investors reduced exposure to U.S. large-cap stocks amid concerns over high valuations and rising artificial intelligence-related expenditures. According to LSEG Lipper data, global equity funds attracted net inflows for the fifth consecutive week, totaling $25.54 billion. European funds led with net inflows of $17.53 billion, marking the highest weekly level since at least 2022, while Asian funds drew approximately $6.28 billion. In contrast, U.S. equity funds experienced net outflows of $1.42 billion, the first such outflow in three weeks. Renewed concerns that AI technology could disrupt sectors such as software, legal services, and wealth management contributed to a 2.03% decline in the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index on Thursday of that week.
Global bond funds remained attractive to investors for the sixth straight week, attracting net inflows of about $21.09 billion. Short-term bond funds saw inflows of $4.87 billion, the highest since mid-December when they recorded $10.17 billion in net inflows. Corporate bond funds and euro-denominated bond funds also drew inflows of $2.63 billion and $2.06 billion, respectively. Meanwhile, money market fund inflows dropped to a three-week low of just $1.15 billion.
Gold and precious metals commodity funds attracted inflows for the 13th time in the past 14 weeks, although the net inflow of $1.25 billion was the smallest in five weeks. In emerging markets, investors injected $8.52 billion into equity funds, extending the recent buying trend for an eighth consecutive week. Bond funds in these markets saw inflows of $1.29 billion, based on data compiled from 28,723 funds.