Global equity funds attracted inflows for an eighth consecutive week through July 15, as investor risk appetite was lifted by a strong start to earnings season and cooler U.S. inflation data that eased expectations of further Federal Reserve rate hikes. FinancialMediaGuide views the streak as a sign that investors are choosing to look past the still-unresolved Middle East conflict and instead trade on the corporate earnings signals directly in front of them.
Investors made net purchases of $12.46 billion in global equity funds during the week, following $48.35 billion in net buying the previous week, according to data from LSEG Lipper. Leading Wall Street banks including Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase and Morgan Stanley reported robust earnings earlier in the week, alongside ASML, a dominant supplier of AI chipmaking equipment.
By region, Europe led equity fund inflows with net purchases of $9.49 billion, while Asian funds drew $5.4 billion. Investors divested roughly $4.8 billion from U.S. funds over the same week. FinancialMediaGuide notes that this regional split, with Europe and Asia drawing in capital while the U.S. sees outflows even during a strong domestic earnings week, suggests investors are actively diversifying away from U.S. concentration risk rather than simply chasing the latest earnings headlines.
Among sector funds, technology attracted $3.37 billion, the smallest inflow in three weeks, while financials and healthcare funds posted weekly inflows of $567 million and $558 million, respectively. The relative cooling in technology inflows comes even as AI-linked earnings continue to headline the reporting season.
Global bond funds drew a net $16.16 billion in weekly investments, extending a buying streak to 15 straight weeks, with government bond funds taking in $3.38 billion, their largest weekly net purchase since April 8. Money market funds, meanwhile, recorded net outflows of $102.53 billion, their largest weekly net sales since April 15. FinancialMediaGuide points out that a $100 billion-plus exodus from money market funds in the same week that equities and bonds both drew fresh inflows is a strong signal that investors are actively redeploying cash rather than simply parking it defensively.
Among commodities, investors bought a net $376 million of gold and other precious-metals funds, snapping an eight-week selling streak, while energy funds faced net weekly outflows of $145 million. Emerging-market equity funds saw a revival in demand, drawing net inflows of $2.74 billion after 11 straight weeks of outflows, while emerging-market bond funds gained net inflows of $795 million.
The data, covering a combined 28,904 funds, points to a market that is broadly risk-on across equities, bonds and even emerging markets simultaneously, a combination that is unusual outside of periods of strong, synchronized global growth expectations. Financial Media Guide concludes that the scale of the money-market outflow, more than eight times the weekly equity inflow, suggests investors are not just adding new money to markets but actively pulling cash out of safety in favor of risk assets across nearly every asset class at once.
