(Reuters) – Investors withdrew money from global equity funds in the week ended Oct. 30, amid caution ahead of Tuesday’s U.S. presidential election and the Federal Reserve’s policy decision later in the week.
Investors pulled a net $2.65 billion from global equity funds during the week, marking the first week of net sales since Sept. 25.
Ahead of Tuesday’s U.S. presidential election, Democratic candidate Kamala Harris and Republican candidate Donald Trump are virtually tied in opinion polls.
The U.S. equity market appears vulnerable in the near term, said Gary Dugan, chief executive officer at Global CIO Office.
“While some investors argue that a Trump victory could be beneficial for equities due to hopes of greater economic growth stimulus, current market valuations are considerably higher than in 2016, the year before Trump took office for the first time.”
By region, U.S. equity funds saw a net $5.83 billion of outflows, the biggest weekly net sales in five weeks. European funds saw net outflows of $1.46 billion, while Asian funds saw about $4 billion of net purchases.
Among sectoral funds, industrials, healthcare, and gold and precious metals recorded net sales of $552 million, $521 million and $434 million respectively. Consumer discretionary and utilities, meanwhile, saw a net $474 million and $363 million of inflows, respectively.
Investors put money into global bond funds for a 45th successive week, with purchases totaling a net $14.14 billion.
Dollar denominated medium-term bond funds attracted a net $2.91 billion, the seventh weekly inflow in a row. Government and corporate bond funds also attracted a net $2.76 billion and $2.39 billion, respectively.
Global money market funds, meanwhile, saw a net $11.73 billion of sales, partly reversing $26.22 billion of net inflows in the prior week.
In the commodities segment, gold and other precious metals funds were popular for the 12th straight week, with a net $213 million of purchases during the week. Energy funds also gained a net $123 million in inflows.
Data covering 29,670 emerging market funds showed that equity funds saw a weekly net outflow of $1.82 billion, following five weeks of inflows in a row. Investors also pulled a net $802 million out of emerging market bond funds.
