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Weekly fund flows highlights – 17th April 2023
Weekly fund flows highlights – 17th April 2023

Kirsten Longbottom, Research Associate at EPFR, is in charge of delivering our fund flows highlights this week. Using our Fund Flows and Allocations data and insights, we put our focus on equity flows and sector allocations.

Data-driven towards another rate hike?
Data-driven towards another rate hike?

The second week of April offered investors two data points, the latest US jobs report and the inflation numbers for Match, that they hoped would make the case for a pause in the Federal Reserve’s tightening cycle. Although headline inflation in March came in at a one-year low and the number of new non-farm jobs created was the least in over two years, investors were left hoping that the Fed will focus on the trends rather than the actual, positive numbers.

Craving certainty, markets get uncertainty
Craving certainty, markets get uncertainty

How much longer will the war in Ukraine go on? How much further will central banks go before they deem inflation contained? How much damage will the latest US debt ceiling standoff do? How widely will the benefits of China’s anticipated economic rebound be felt? What direction will Japanese monetary policy take?

Investment compass keeps spinning in mid-February
Investment compass keeps spinning in mid-February

With the one-year anniversary of Russia’s attack on Ukraine looming, the latest US inflation data showing headline inflation down and core inflation up, the Bank of Japan weeks away from a change in leadership and Sino-US tensions rising, investors found it hard during the second week of February to sustain their earlier optimism.

Glass remains half full in late January
Glass remains half full in late January

Actions spoke louder – to equity investors – than words coming into February, with the fact that the latest interest rate hike by the US Federal Reserve was only 25 basis points, boosting flows to US Equity Funds and other groups despite the accompanying verbal warning that the battle against inflation is “not fully done.”