U.S. Equity Funds See Major Outflows Ahead of Elections

(Reuters) – U.S. equity funds witnessed significant outflows in the week ending Oct. 30 as investors remained cautious before the presidential election on Tuesday and a Federal Reserve policy decision on Wednesday.

According to LSEG data, investors withdrew a net $5.83 billion from U.S. equity funds during the week, marking the highest outflow since the week ending Sept. 25.

Investors sold U.S. growth funds estimated at $4.06 billion, representing the largest weekly selloff since Oct. 2. Additionally, value funds experienced $2.19 billion in net outflows.

The industrial, gold and precious metals, and healthcare sectors faced net outflows totaling $779 million, $392 million, and $278 million, respectively. Conversely, the consumer discretionary sector received $478 million in net inflows.

For the 22nd week in a row, investors purchased U.S. bond funds, amassing $7.37 billion in net inflows. They allocated $3.18 billion into U.S. short-to-intermediate investment-grade funds, the highest amount in four weeks. Other categories, including general domestic taxable fixed income and municipal debt funds, saw net inflows of $2.9 billion and $659 million, respectively.

Furthermore, $5.7 billion worth of U.S. money market funds was sold during this period, following around $30 billion in net purchases the previous week.