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Stock funds in the United States posted $2.8 billion in
withdrawals during the seven days through Aug. 9, marking the
largest outflows in five weeks.
Nearly $31 billion moved into relatively low-risk money market
funds, the strongest figure since 2013. About $4 billion moved
into taxable and municipal bonds, according to the research
service.
Investors took that defensive crouch as the United States and
North Korea exchanged threats during the week. On Tuesday, U.S.
President Donald Trump said aggression from Pyongyang would be
"met with fire and fury like the world has never seen." North
Korea's state media reported the country had plans to fire
missiles near the U.S. Pacific territory Guam.
"It's people taking money out of play," said Pat Keon, senior
research analyst for Thomson Reuters' Lipper unit.
"This is driven more by geopolitical news than financial or
economic news," overshadowing positive signs from strong
second-quarter corporate earnings, recent data on jobs and wage
growth and a supportive Federal Reserve. The S&P 500 index is
down more than 1.3 percent over the last week.
Within equities, investors favored exposure abroad, putting $1.5
billion in non-domestic funds while pulling $4.3 billion from
stocks at home.
In bonds, investors preferred investment-grade corporate bond
funds over safe-haven Treasuries that offer lower returns.
Treasury fund outflows of $69 million for the week compare to
$2.5 billion in inflows for the investment-grade funds.
Precious metals funds continued to report weak sales despite the
risk-off sentiment and four straight weeks of positive
performance. Withdrawals for the category were $225 million for
the week, the data showed.
(Reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt; Editing by Jennifer Ablan and
Phil Berlowitz)
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