S&P 500 may face selling pressure as systematic funds reach full exposure
Citi took note of a significant uptick in investment activity within European equity funds. According to the latest fund flows data, there was an inflow of $2 billion into European equity funds over the past week, marking the largest weekly inflow in just over two years.
This data, sourced from Lipper, highlights a growing interest in European markets among investors. The report from Citi also points out that the recent inflows into European equities were not limited to a specific region.
Both US and Rest of World (RoW)-domiciled funds experienced net inflows, indicating a geographically diverse group of investors showing renewed confidence in European stocks. This marks the second consecutive week that Europe has seen positive fund flows.
Historically, such trends in European equities have been followed by continued investment. When European stocks have previously experienced a "revival" — defined as four consecutive weeks of inflows after at least six months of cumulative outflows — regional equity funds have typically seen an additional 2% of Assets Under Management (AUM) in cumulative inflows in the subsequent quarter.
In terms of performance, the MSCI Europe index has responded positively to these periods of revived inflows. On average, the index has seen a gain of approximately 4% over the same quarter. Moreover, it has modestly outperformed its Developed Market (DM) peers during these intervals, as noted by Citi’s analysis.
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