As regional bank liquidity fears recede and the Federal Reserve Board softened its language about future rate hikes after hiking its key lending rate by 25 basis points (bps) on March 22, saying “some additional policy firming may be appropriate,” U.S. equities rallied during the Refinitiv Lipper fund-flows week ended March 29, 2023, but fund flows remained defensive. The average equity fund rose 2.55% for the performance week ended March 30, with the Sector Equity Funds (+3.57%, including ETFs) and Global Sector Equity Funds (+3.40%) macro-classifications posting the strongest returns while their U.S. Diversified Equity (USDE) Funds and World Equity

Not surprising given the uptick in inflation data, hawkish comments by Federal Reserve officials, and rising interest rates, investors were net redeemers of fund assets (including conventional funds and ETFs) for the third week in four, withdrawing a net $2.1 billion for the Refinitiv Lipper fund-flows week ended Wednesday, February 22. Investors were net purchasers of money market funds (+$5.4 billion) while being net redeemers of equity funds (-$5.6 billion), tax-exempt fixed income funds (-$1.7 billion), and taxable bond funds (-$295 million) for the week. During the fund-flows week, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that inflation at the

For the most recent fund-flows week, Japanese Funds attracted $758 million, its largest weekly net inflows since the week ended March 15, 2015.