(Reuters) - U.S. equity funds saw heavy outflows in the seven days to Aug. 9 amid investor caution ahead of the U.S. inflation data and concerns over credit rating downgrades in the banking sector.
According to Refinitiv Lipper data, investors withdrew about $14.96 billion from U.S. equity funds during the week, their biggest week of net selling since June 21.
Wall Street stocks posted big losses last week, with the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq registering their biggest weekly declines since March as investors took profits after five months of gains.
Also tempering investor appetite, credit rating agency Moody's (NYSE:MCO) downgraded 10 small- to mid-sized U.S. lenders on Monday and placed another six banks on review for potential downgrades.
Investors sold out of U.S. large-, mid-, and multi-cap funds to the tune of $14.95 billion, $543 million and $261 million, respectively, but small-cap funds still drew about $748 million in inflows.
By sector, materials, financials and tech saw net sales of $891 million, $554 million and $524 million, respectively. Meanwhile, healthcare funds received $1.39 billion, the most in a week since March 2022.
Meanwhile, U.S. money market funds and government bond funds attracted $40.88 billion and $4.48 billion, respectively, as investors hunted for safety.
On a combined net basis, U.S. bond funds received $3.99 billion in inflows, compared with about $938 million of outflow in the previous week.
U.S. general domestic taxable fixed income and short/intermediate investment-grade funds received about $800 million each in inflows. On the other hand, high yield and loan participation funds saw net sales of $565 million and $419 million, respectively.