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Investing.com -- Investors piled into fixed income funds while pulling money from crypto last week, according to Bank of America.
Global bond funds attracted $23 billion in the week through Wednesday, extending a 17-week streak of inflows, the team led by Michael Hartnett said, citing EPFR Global data. That brings the past four weeks’ bond inflows to a record $97 billion, with investment-grade funds alone drawing $12.7 billion.
High-yield bonds saw a modest $400 million, while emerging-market debt marked its 18th consecutive week of inflows at $3.2 billion.
In addition, municipal bonds took in $2.9 billion, government and Treasury funds $2.2 billion, bank loans $0.7 billion, and TIPS $0.1 billion.
Equities took in $3 billion in the past week, but the headline figures masked weakness across major regions.
European equity funds posted their largest outflows in four months at $2.3 billion, with German funds seeing $400 million in redemptions, the biggest in three months.
U.K. equity funds recorded an 18th straight week of withdrawals.
U.S. equity funds also swung back to outflows, losing $2.5 billion, while Japan recorded its sixth straight week of redemptions at $2.2 billion.
Within U.S. equities, large-cap funds drew in $0.8 billion, but value, growth, and small-cap strategies all saw redemptions.
By sector, technology led with $0.5 billion of inflows, followed by healthcare at $0.4 billion and smaller gains in consumer and utilities. Financials, telecoms, real estate, and materials saw outflows.
Crypto funds were among the biggest losers, shedding $700 million.
Meanwhile, money-market funds attracted $1.3 billion and gold funds gained $100 million.
BofA said its Bull & Bear Indicator edged down to 6.0 from 6.1, reflecting the combination of developed-market equity outflows, weak breadth, and bearish hedge fund positioning, partly offset by low cash levels.