Investors Shift from U.S. Stocks to Japan and Europe
LONDON (Reuters) - Investors sold U.S. stocks in the week ending Wednesday and bought Japanese and European shares, BofA Global Research said on Friday.
U.S. equities saw an $8.9 billion outflow in the week, BofA said in its regular round up of flows in and out of world markets that uses data from EPFR, but this follows large inflows.
BofA said for every $100 inflow to U.S. stocks since the 2024 election, there had been a $5 outflow in the past three weeks.
In contrast, Japanese shares saw their biggest weekly inflow since April last year, worth some $4.4 billion, while European shares saw inflows of just over $3 billion in a sign that investors continue to diversify exposure away from U.S. assets.
But BofA said there was no sign of dumping of U.S. assets by foreign owners. U.S. stocks saw a nearly $4 billion inflow from foreign buyers, and while there was "tiny foreign selling" of U.S. Treasuries, that followed six weeks of inflows.
Turmoil unleashed by U.S. President Donald Trump's April 2 tariff announcement has put the spotlight on whether foreign investors would continue to sell U.S. assets.
Still, U.S. Treasuries saw their biggest outflow since late 2023, of some $4.5 billion, the BofA report showed. Gold meanwhile had its first weekly outflow since January.
(Reporting by Dhara Ranasinghe, editing by Alun John)
