July 17 (Reuters) – U.S. equity funds recorded outflows in the week through July 15, as a selloff in chip stocks and rising U.S.-Iran tensions, outweighed strong corporate earnings and cooler inflation readings.
They sold U.S. equity funds of a net $4.8 billion logging their first weekly net disposal in three weeks, LSEG Lipper data showed.
Chip stocks came under pressure after rallying about 87.75% in the previous quarter. The Philadelphia SE Semiconductor Index has fallen roughly 8.48% so far this week, with SanDisk, Marvell Technology and Intel dropping 26.35%, 20.15% and 11.71%, respectively.
Investors sold a net $7.18 billion in growth funds, reversing $4.23 billion in net purchases the previous week. Value funds, meanwhile, attracted inflows for a third consecutive week, drawing $3 billion.
Among sector funds, technology inflows cooled to a three-week low of $1.57 billion. Healthcare funds attracted a net $465 million, while investors withdrew about $579 million from consumer discretionary funds and $409 million from communication services funds.
U.S. bond funds remained popular for a 13th straight week, attracting $9.89 billion in inflows.
Investors bought $2.38 billion of short-to-intermediate investment-grade funds, $1.47 billion of short-to-intermediate government and Treasury funds, and $1.36 billion of municipal debt funds.
U.S. money market funds, meanwhile, saw $68.03 billion in outflows, the largest weekly withdrawal since April 15.
(Reporting by Gaurav Dogra, Editing by Nick Zieminski)