Inflation and interest rate concerns intensify! Global equity funds see largest weekly net outflow in 9 months; U.S. equity funds suffer outflows for a fourth consecutive week.

Due to rising crude oil prices exacerbating inflation concerns, while market expectations of a Federal Reserve rate hike also made investors more cautious ahead of its policy decision, data from LSEG Lipper showed that global equity funds recorded a net outflow of $23.21 billion in the week ended September 16, the largest weekly outflow since December 17, 2025. Among them, U.S. equity funds recorded a net outflow of $31.44 billion, marking a fourth consecutive week of outflows and roughly in line with the previous week's net outflow of about $32 billion. European equity funds recorded a net outflow of $295 million. Asian funds, meanwhile, attracted a net inflow of $6.26 billion. This week, crude oil prices rose to a four-month high at one point, intensifying inflation concerns and pushing up U.S. Treasury yields, thereby weighing on funds focused on growth assets. On Wednesday, the Federal Reserve raised interest rates by 25 basis points and signaled that further monetary policy tightening may be needed in the future to curb inflation driven by rising energy costs related to the Middle East war. Meanwhile, weekly inflows into global equity sector funds rose to a six-week high of $4.49 billion. Technology, financial, and consumer discretionary funds attracted inflows of $1.94 billion, $1.31 billion, and $621 million, respectively. In the U.S. market, equity sector funds recorded inflows of $2.29 billion for the week, the highest level in seven weeks. The financial, consumer discretionary, and technology sectors attracted net buying of $1.37 billion, $795 million, and $775 million, respectively. In emerging markets, equity funds recorded outflows for a second consecutive week, totaling $1.61 billion. Global bond funds attracted $855 million in inflows, the lowest weekly amount since April 1. Investors withdrew $3.85 billion from high-yield bond funds and $1.1 billion from euro-denominated bond funds. Government bond funds received $2.96 billion in inflows, while short-term bond funds attracted $1.96 billion in inflows. Money market funds recorded an outflow of $77.42 billion, ending a two-week streak of net buying. In commodity funds, gold and other precious metals funds attracted $1.17 billion in inflows, recording inflows for the ninth time in the past 10 weeks. Energy funds recorded an outflow of $148 million for the week, compared with an inflow of $211 million the previous week.