Global equity funds draw eighth weekly inflow as AI rally lifts tech
Global equity funds attracted inflows for an eighth straight week through May 13 as investors chased the AI-driven rally in technology stocks on optimism over strong chipmaker earnings and shrugged off inflation concerns.
They bought a net $39.15 billion of global equity funds in their largest weekly net purchase since $48.55 billion of additions in the week to April 22, LSEG Lipper data showed.
The MSCI World Index hit a record 1,117.52 on Thursday, as tech shares extended a rally after Advanced Micro Devices and Microchip Technology had forecasted strong data-center chips' demand in the last week.
LSEG data covering 900 MSCI World constituents showed that about 72% of companies beat analysts' average profit estimates for the first quarter.
U.S. equity funds gained $22.37 billion weekly inflows in a reversal from $2.89 billion net outflows the prior week. Asian and European funds also saw weekly net additions of $7.62 billion and $6.29 billion, respectively.
The technology sector drew a record $10.65 billion. Metals and mining, and industrial sectors also had net purchases of $1.03 billion and $886 million, respectively.
Global bond funds attracted $25.76 billion, the largest amount for a week since early October 2025.
Short-term bond funds, euro-denominated bond funds and corporate bond funds led the purchases with net inflows of $2.93 billion, $2.83 billion and $2.47 billion, respectively.
Money market funds, meanwhile, witnessed a net $9.2 billion of withdrawals after net purchases of $149.98 billion in the prior week.
Gold and other precious metal funds saw a revival in demand following two weeks of net sales as investors poured $1.77 billion into these funds.
In emerging markets, equity funds remained out of favor for a third straight week with a net $3.18 billion outflow. Bond funds, however, saw a sixth weekly inflow of $2.19 billion, data covering 28,893 funds showed.
(Reporting by Gaurav Dogra, Editing by Nick Zieminski)
Copyright Reuters or USA Today Network via Reuters Connect.
This story was originally published May 15, 2026 at 6:54 AM.