US equity funds post inflows for a second straight week

Oct 23 (Reuters) - US equity ‌funds attracted inflows ​for ​a second consecutive week in the seven days to October 21, as easing Treasury yields and strong corporate earnings ‌so far bolstered investor appetite, although caution over the artificial ⁠intelligence trade capped weekly net purchases.

US equity funds recorded net inflows of $5.07 billion, a ‌roughly 62% decline from $13.37 billion ‌the week before, according to LSEG Lipper data.

Easing US Treasury yields partly alleviated concerns over high borrowing costs, with the benchmark 10-year ​yield down nearly 38 basis points from its early-October peak of 5.3645%, a 24-1/2-year high.

Investors also drew confidence from the solid start ⁠to the US earnings season. Nearly 24% of S&P 500 companies have reported, with roughly 82% ​topping analysts' average estimates, according to LSEG data.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite, however, fell 2.6% on Thursday after Meta reported ​strong results on Wednesday but announced ‌plans to issue non-voting stock, reigniting concerns about rising capital commitments across the technology sector.

Investors bought a net $8.63 billion ⁠of US large-cap funds and $1.92 billion of mid-cap funds during the week, while withdrawing a net $4.24 billion from small-cap funds.

Sectoral funds attracted $1.8 billion in weekly ⁠inflows after two consecutive weeks of outflows, driven largely by $1.18 billion flowing into metals ​and mining funds. Technology and industrials funds also recorded net inflows of $429 million and $269 million, respectively.

US bond funds recorded weekly outflows of $969 million, ending a 26-week streak ‌of net purchases.

Investors withdrew $3.3 billion from longer-dated government and Treasury fixed-income funds after three weeks of inflows, but ‌invested $1.76 billion in short- to intermediate-term government and Treasury funds. They also ⁠added a notable $1.56 billion to ‌municipal debt funds.

Meanwhile, money ​market funds attracted $14.82 billion in weekly inflows, following roughly $45.93 billion in outflows the previous week.

(Reporting by Gaurav DograEditing by ‌Tomasz Janowski)

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