By Investing.com — U.S. equity flows turned largely negative in the week leading up to Christmas, Citi revealed on Thursday. Bond funds recorded inflows of $2.1 billion, while equity funds saw outflows totaling $26.6 billion.
According to Citi, the majority of equity outflows came from U.S. ETFs, which faced $38.7 billion in net redemptions.
European funds experienced a smaller outflow of $0.9 billion, whereas global funds attracted $7.5 billion in inflows. In Europe, money market funds lost $11.7 billion last week, bringing the total outflow over the past three weeks to $42.5 billion.
Emerging market funds had another challenging week, with $1.1 billion in outflows, driven by $1.3 billion exiting China funds for the second consecutive week. However, GEM funds managed a modest inflow of $0.7 billion.
In Asia, foreign investors were net sellers across most markets. South Korea saw $0.7 billion in net foreign outflows, while Taiwan and India recorded outflows of $0.5 billion and $0.4 billion, respectively.
Japan also faced significant foreign selling, with $3.1 billion in outflows for the week.
U.S. stocks moved marginally on Thursday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average edged slightly higher, marking its fifth consecutive session of gains, even as light trading and rising U.S. Treasury yields pressured major tech stocks.
The Nasdaq Composite and S&P 500 saw little movement but closed marginally lower, ending the Nasdaq’s four-day winning streak and halting the S&P 500’s three-session rise.
With few market drivers, investors reacted to climbing U.S. government bond yields. The 10-year Treasury yield hit 4.64% earlier in the session, its highest level since May. However, a solid auction of seven-year notes in the afternoon eased yields slightly, bringing the 10-year yield down to 4.58% by late afternoon.