US equity funds witness outflows for second successive week

(Reuters) - U.S. investors shed equity funds for a second successive week in the seven days to June 19, exercising caution as they evaluated the Federal Reserve's hawkish signals and ongoing political risks in Europe.

They offloaded U.S. equity funds of a net $8.37 billion following $21.54 billion worth of weekly net selling in the previous week, data from LSEG showed.

Last week, the U.S. Federal Reserve kept interest rates steady but scaled back its projected rate cuts for the year from three to one, adopting a more hawkish stance than anticipated.

The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq hit record highs on Thursday, boosted by strong gains in Nvidia, and indications of a gradual easing in the labor market and inflation levels.

By segment, U.S. large-cap and multi-cap funds led outflows as they saw $4.88 billion and $1.45 billion worth of net sales. Mid-cap and small-cap funds also suffered $680 million and $574 million worth of net selling.

Among sectoral funds, healthcare and industrials both had about $150 million worth of net selling each. The tech sector still attracted a net $554 million, the second weekly inflow in a row.

Meanwhile, U.S. bond funds observed a net $991 million worth of purchases during the week, the smallest in three weeks.

US short/intermediate government & treasury, and U.S. mortgage funds experienced $741 million and $435 million worth of net purchases respectively. Short/intermediate investment-grade funds, however, suffered $582 million worth of net selling, the first weekly outflow in five.

Money market funds, meanwhile, saw about $21 billion worth of net disposals after two weekly inflows in a row.

(Reporting by Gaurav Dogra and Patturaja Murugaboopathy in Bengaluru; editing by Mark Heinrich)