U.S. equity funds recorded $11.12 billion in net outflows for a second consecutive week, as rising bond yields, higher oil prices, and tensions in the Middle East dampened investor sentiment. Rising yields tend to make fixed-income assets more attractive relative to stocks and can pressure equity valuations, which helps explain why higher yields coincide with a pullback from equity funds.

Strong artificial intelligence-related earnings from Nvidia and Dell limited the scale of the decline. According to the report, the robust results from Nvidia and Dell Technologies provided some support for equities, signaling that spending on AI infrastructure and related investments remained intact. That dynamic points to a divergence within equity markets: while broad equity funds saw outflows, companies directly tied to AI infrastructure spending continued to report demand, and their results served as an offsetting positive for overall sentiment.

At the same time, investors moved toward safer assets, with money market funds attracting $48.76 billion during the week — a figure that reflects heightened caution across the market. Money market funds, which invest in short-term, low-risk instruments, are a common destination for cash during uncertain periods; the size of the inflow indicates that money was being repositioned toward safety rather than exiting markets entirely.

The data on fund flows was reported as of September 5, 2026 (01:30 AM IST), based on LSEG Lipper figures cited by the Economic Times. LSEG Lipper weekly fund-flow data tracks mutual funds and exchange-traded funds, making it a widely followed gauge of investor positioning. Going forward, the trajectory of bond yields, oil prices, and geopolitical developments will be key factors in whether equity fund flows stabilize or outflows extend into a third week.

Source: Economic Times Markets