July 24 (Reuters) – U.S. equity funds recorded outflows for a second consecutive week as caution ahead of earnings reports from major technology companies and a renewed rise in oil prices weighed on investor sentiment.
Investors sold a net $7.34 billion in U.S. equity funds during the week through July 22, sharply higher than the previous week’s net sales of $4.18 billion, according to LSEG Lipper data.
Earnings reports from Alphabet and Tesla earlier this week disappointed investors, highlighting concerns about the rising costs of AI investments, durability of growth, and cash burn. Microsoft, Amazon and Meta Platforms are due to report results next week.
U.S. growth equity funds recorded outflows of $8.55 billion, the largest in three weeks. Value funds also saw $1.39 billion in outflows, ending a three-week streak of inflows.
Investors, however, bought sector-specific funds for a fourth consecutive week, with net inflows totaling $2.46 billion. They purchased $1.39 billion in financial-sector funds, $1.35 billion in healthcare funds, and $1.17 billion in technology funds.
Meanwhile, U.S. bond funds recorded $2.36 billion in outflows, ending a 13-week run of net inflows.
Short-to-intermediate investment-grade funds posted their first weekly outflow since April 15, totaling $7.29 billion. Meanwhile, short-to-intermediate government and Treasury funds, as well as general domestic taxable fixed-income funds, attracted inflows of $1.32 billion and $961 million, respectively.
Money market funds recorded net weekly outflows of $25.17 billion, following approximately $67.16 billion in outflows the previous week.
(Reporting by Gaurav Dogra; Editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise)
