April 21 (Reuters) - U.S. bond funds suffered big
outflows in the week to April 19 on expectations that the
Federal Reserve would continue to hike interest rates to tackle
inflationary pressures.
Refinitiv Lipper data showed $3.1 billion worth of net
selling from U.S. bond funds after two weeks of inflows.
Last week, data on the U.S. labour market and producer
prices showed inflation eased, but not at a fast enough pace to
allow the Federal Reserve to pause raising interest rates in
May.
Fed Governor Christopher Waller said that he expected the
economy and inflation to remain stronger than expected,
bolstering rate hike expectations.
Investors disposed of $3.16 billion of municipal bond funds
in their biggest weekly net selling since December 21, 2022, but
purchased about $5 million worth of taxable bond funds.
U.S. short/intermediate government & treasury and loan
participation funds faced outflows of $1.44 billion and $542
million, respectively, but high-yield funds received a net $2.88
billion in inflows.
Meanwhile, equity funds witnessed a fourth week of outflow,
worth about $1.51 billion.
Investors sold U.S. mid-, and small-cap funds of $603
million and $390 million, respectively, but purchased large-cap
funds of $797 million.
By sector, real estate suffered outflows of $646 million.
However consumer staples and healthcare drew $580 million and
$534 million worth of inflows, respectively.
Meanwhile, investors exited $71.66 billion worth of money
market funds after a combined net purchase of $346 billion in
the previous five weeks.
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Fund flows: U.S. domiciled equities, bonds and money market
funds Fund flows: U.S. bond funds Fund flows: U.S. equity sector funds ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^>
(Reporting by Gaurav Dogra and Patturaja Murugaboopathy in
Bengaluru; editing by Barbara Lewis)
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