June 26 (Reuters) – U.S. equity funds came under selling pressure in the week to June 24, as concerns over debt-funded spending in the technology sector and expectations of a hawkish Federal Reserve policy stance sparked risk aversion.
Investors pulled $3.53 billion from U.S. equity funds during the week, partly reversing net purchases of $37.63 billion in the prior week, LSEG Lipper data showed.
Concerns over stretched technology-sector valuations and debt-funded spending by major tech companies weighed on sentiment. Elon Musk’s SpaceX joined other mega-cap names in tapping bond markets, adding to worries that the sector’s investment boom is becoming increasingly reliant on borrowing.
Investor caution was also fuelled by expectations of a possible 25-basis-point Fed rate hike this year amid rising inflationary pressures.
Technology sector funds saw nearly $20 billion in outflows during the week, reversing the previous week’s $21.46 billion in inflows.
Financial, industrial and consumer discretionary sector funds also recorded notable weekly outflows of $1.06 billion, $830 million and $733 million, respectively.
Meanwhile, inflows into U.S. bond funds slowed to an eight-week low of $7.33 billion.
Short-to-intermediate investment-grade funds, general domestic taxable fixed-income funds and municipal debt funds attracted $2.95 billion, $2.03 billion and $633 million, respectively, down from $3.09 billion, $3.39 billion and $1.19 billion in the previous week.
Money market funds recorded net weekly sales of $25.74 billion, their largest outflow since April 15.
(Reporting by Gaurav Dogra, editing by Milla Nissi-Prussak)
