Investors pour into European equity funds, flee U.S. on tariff woes

(Reuters) -European equity funds drew massive inflows in the week ended April 16, while U.S. funds faced hefty outflows, as investors continued to shift capital on concerns over U.S. trade tariffs and mounting worries over the strength of the U.S. economy.

According to LSEG Lipper data, investors bought a net $11.13 billion in European equity funds and $3.64 billion in Asian equity funds. However, U.S. equity funds witnessed an outflow of $10.62 billion.

European stocks tumbled earlier this month after U.S. President Donald Trump imposed hefty tariffs on its trading partners, but have since recovered slightly following his announcement of a 90-day pause on the reciprocal measures.

Sectoral funds, meanwhile, suffered outflows for a third consecutive week to the tune of $2.58 billion, with healthcare and technology having $1.07 billion and $943 million in net sales leading the way.

Global bond funds faced a selloff for the second week in a row as investors pulled a hefty $19.96 billion on a net basis from these funds.

High-yield bond funds saw a net $5.17 billion worth of outflows in a fourth consecutive week of net sales, while U.S. short-term government bond funds received a massive $7.1 billion, marking a third successive week of net purchases.

David Weismiller, portfolio manager at Aristotle Pacific Capital, said flows into short-term government and other conservative bond funds are likely to continue to the extent the uncertainty in the market remains elevated.

Meanwhile, global money market funds experienced about $122.96 billion worth of net withdrawals as investors extended net sales into a second successive week.

Data covering 29,627 emerging market funds showed bond funds lost a massive $3.09 billion for a second consecutive week of net sales. Equity funds also saw a net $2.51 billion worth of divestments, the third successive week of outflows.

(Reporting by Gaurav Dogra and Patturaja Murugaboopathy in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel)

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