Investors keep out of European stocks, flock to U.S. - BofA

[March 18, 2022]  LONDON (Reuters) - Investors pulled money out of European equities for a fifth week in a row and flocked to U.S. equities as the Russian invasion of Ukraine weighed on the continent's bourses, BofA wrote on Friday in its weekly report based on EPFR data.

Flows out of European equity funds amounted to 3.2 billion dollars while $32 billion went into U.S. equities, the largest amount in five weeks, the U.S. investment bank said.

While central banks across the globe have embarked in tightening monetary policies, $14.9 billion were taken out of bonds, the largest outflow since March 2021.

"'Inflation shock not over, 'rates shock' not over, 'recession shock' likely second half of 2022", the bank's analysts wrote in a weekly note.

Emerging market debt funds also saw outflows for the tenth consecutive week. About $14.3 billion has left such funds so far this year, nearly half the amount that went into such funds in 2021.

The U.S. investment bank's Bull and Bear indicator, a market signal that combines various data and suggests when to buy or sell stocks, ticked lower to 2.3 in the latest week. A reading below 2 is considered as a "buy signal".

(Reporting by Julien Ponthus; Editing by Saikat Chatterjee)

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