According to CNN, annual inflation dropped in March 2023 for the ninth consecutive month, and grocery prices fell month-on-month for the first time since September 2020. While the CPI has cooled off – at least temporarily – investors are not treating the news as a green light for the road back to riskier asset classes. With fear far from banished, cash remains king.
US Money Market Funds kicked off April by recording their fourth straight inflow in excess of $50...
Join EPFR’s Steve Muzzlewhite for his weekly investor sentiment update. This week, we cover equity fund flows, bond flows and money market fund flows.
EPFR data reveals outflows from equity, multi-asset and alternative funds, and inflows to bond funds and money market flows during the last week of March 2023.
Flows to and from EPFR-tracked fund groups during the final week of March continued to paint a picture of risk aversion and fear among investors. For the third week running liquidity funds recorded above average inflows while High Yield, Bank Loan, Emerging Markets Bond and Alternative Funds extended their current outflow streaks.
As March 2023 comes to a close, Steve Muzzlewhite shares the latest investor sentiment trends, focusing on equity funds, bond funds, money market, and more.
In the face of this uncertainty, and the unwillingness of major Western central banks to suspend the battle against inflation, investors continued to cut risk, increase their exposure to China’s rebound story and steer cash into liquidity funds.
The second week of March was dominated by the crumbling fortunes of large US regional banks and European major Credit Suisse. Although this certainly dented investors’ risk appetite, many saw events as an opportunity – especially if major central banks dust off their playbooks from 2008-09 and 2020, opening lines of credit and secured lending facilities and cutting interest rates.
One year after the start of Russia’s war in Ukraine, we look at investor sentiment using fund flows and allocations data to analyze key market trends.
February was a bumpy month for investors and markets. Interest rates climbed higher in the US, Europe and Australia, the benchmark Dow Jones Industrials stock index shed over 4%, inflation numbers for January disappointed and Sino-US tensions climbed a notch. But the month did end on another positive note: Chinese factory output is growing at its fastest pace since 2012.
