Global equity funds see second weekly outflow on tariff concerns

(Reuters) -Global equity funds posted outflows for a second straight week through May 28, as risk aversion rose following U.S. President Donald Trump's tariff threats on EU imports and overseas-made iPhones, alongside a spike in long-tenor bond yields.

Investors pulled out a net $7.52 billion from global equity funds during the week following a net $9.48 billion worth of sales in the previous week, data from LSEG Lipper showed.

In a surprise move last Friday, President Trump threatened to impose 50% tariffs on European Union imports starting June 1, but later postponed the measure until July 9 after a weekend call with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

In particular, Asian equity funds witnessed a significant selling pressure during the week as they lost about $6 billion in outflows, the biggest amount for a week since August 2018.

Investors sold U.S. equity funds of $5.46 billion but purchased $3.64 billion worth of European equity funds, marking their seventh weekly net purchase in a row.

Global bond funds attracted $15.27 billion in net inflows during the week, marking a sixth straight week of gains. U.S. bond funds drew $6.98 billion, while European and Asian bond funds added $6.23 billion and $1.27 billion, respectively.

Government and high-yield bond funds also recorded inflows of $1.9 billion and $1.51 billion, respectively.

Meanwhile, investors pulled $36.52 billion from money market funds, reversing the previous week's $18.71 billion in inflows.

Gold and precious metals commodity funds saw $1.3 billion in inflows, snapping a five-week streak of outflows.

Among 29,627 tracked emerging market funds, equity outflows slowed to $183 million from $1.4 billion the previous week, while bond funds drew $885 million, notching a fifth consecutive weekly inflow.

(Reporting by Gaurav Dogra and Patturaja Murugaboopathy in Bengaluru; Editing by Shreya Biswas)