(Adds quotes from head of research services at Thomson ReutersLipper, table)By Jennifer AblanNEW YORK, March 1 (Reuters) - U.S.-based junk bond fundsposted $703 million of outflows for the week ended Wednesday,their seventh straight week of cash withdrawals, Lipper datashowed on Thursday.
But higher up in the credit-quality spectrum, U.S.-basedinvestment-grade corporate bond funds attracted $1.37 billion innew cash, a second consecutive week of inflows, Lipper added.
U.S.-based equity funds attracted $13.3 billion of net cashfor the week ended Wednesday, though the majority of those flowswent into U.S.-based exchange-traded funds, Lipper said.
U.S.-based equity ETFs attracted $13.6 billion of inflows,while U.S.-based mutual funds posted $295 million of outflows,Lipper said. Overall, U.S.-based domestic funds attracted $9.4billion of inflows, after three straight weeks of cashwithdrawals.
"Investors appeared to be cautiously optimistic ahead ofFederal Reserve Chair Powell's testimony to Congress but thenbecame spooked by his, what some people are calling, 'hawkish'tone," said Tom Roseen, head of research services at ThomsonReuters Lipper.
Jerome Powell gave his first testimony as the Fed chairbefore Congress on Tuesday."But from the flows into equity ETFs, we can see that manyinvestors are cheering the idea of a stronger economy andperhaps rotating into those securities that benefit when ratesincrease - banks and the like - and increasing economicconditions," Roseen said.Roseen said while domestic ETFs took in money, conventionaldomestic funds were net redeemers. The average retail investorcontinued to shun large-cap stocks, while padding the coffers ofinternational equity funds.Indeed, U.S.-based international equities funds attracted$4.2 billion of inflows for the week ended Wednesday, a ninthconsecutive week of inflows, according to Lipper data.U.S.-based emerging markets equity funds attracted $1.5 billionof inflows for the week ended Wednesday, their 10th consecutiveweek of inflows, Lipper added.
U.S.-based European equity funds attracted $117 million forthe week ended Wednesday, their sixth straight week of inflows,Lipper said.The following is a breakdown of the flows for the week,including mutual funds and ETFs: SectorFlow Chg % Assets Assets ($Bil)Count ($Bil)All Equity Funds13.307 0.19 6,865.40712,162 Domestic9.3710.20 4,672.7798,662 EquitiesNon-Domestic3.9360.18 2,192.6293,500 EquitiesAll Taxable Bond0.8540.03 2,639.7266,079 Funds All Money Market-7.140 -0.262,698.2431,047 Funds All Municipal -0.591 -0.15400.7431,471 Bond Funds
(Reporting by Jennifer AblanEditing by Lisa Shumaker and Leslie Adler)
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