Nov 18 (Reuters) - U.S. equity funds drew massive inflows in the week to Nov. 16 as signs of cooling inflation soothed investor worries of more aggressive interest rate hikes from the Federal Reserve.
According to data from Refinitiv Lipper, U.S. equity funds obtained a net $16.65 billion, the biggest weekly inflow since Dec. 29.
The S&P 500 surged 5.9% last week while the tech- heavy Nasdaq Composite jumped 8.8% to mark its best week since Nov. 2020, as economic data released last week showed that U.S. consumer prices rose less than expected in October.
The U.S. large-cap funds attracted $10.08 billion in their biggest weekly net buying since Dec. 1, while small- and mid-cap funds also obtained $2.08 billion and $94 million worth of inflows, respectively.
By sector, healthcare funds secured $1.17 billion in a fifth straight week of net buying, while tech, industrials and financials had weekly inflows of $737 million, $723 million and $567 million, respectively.
Meanwhile, U.S. bond funds saw outflows of $662 million, as selling continued for a ninth straight week.
Investors sold U.S. taxable bond funds of $999 million after two weeks of net buying in a row, but municipal bond funds recorded inflows worth $513 million.
U.S. general domestic taxable fixed income and short/intermediate investment-grade funds suffered outflows of $2.43 billion and $1.93 billion, respectively, but high-yield funds notched a fourth weekly inflow, worth $2.83 billion.
U.S. government bond funds also attracted inflows for a second straight week, amounting to $1.9 billion.
Meanwhile, money market funds posted a second straight week of outflows, valued at $3.75 billion.
(Reporting by Gaurav Dogra and Patturaja Murugaboopathy in Bengaluru; Editing by Devika Syamnath)
