Risk-off trades thrive as investors walking scared

The latest fund flow report from Bank of America Merrill Lynch shows a clear move to the hills as investors rotated out of risky assets like high yield and emerging market debt into high quality government bonds and money market funds.

Risk-off trades thrive as investors walking scared
1 minute

As the graph below demonstrates money market funds were the biggest winner over the week, with emerging market equities the biggest losers.

 

There were also strong dollar flows during the week, the firm said, while European equities continued to see inflows, with $3.9bn in the past week, making it 29 weeks of inflows out of the past 31.

On the other end of the spectrum, investors continued to move out of healthcare and biotech funds BAML said, as concerns over the potential for further growth continued.

Likewise, the search-for-yield trade that has been a major theme in recent months continues to unwind, as equity income funds reported outflows for a ninth week in 10.