Global equity fund inflows cool to a five-week low on AI concerns

February 28, 2026 00:00:00

Global equity fund inflows eased to a five-week low in the seven days to February 25 as investors turned cautious amid growing unease over the heavy costs and potential disruption linked to artificial intelligence, reports Reuters.

Investors bought a net $19.75 billion worth of global equity funds, marking the smallest weekly inflow since $9.55 billion in the week to Jan. 21, LSEG Lipper data showed.

Nvidia shares dropped 5.46% on Thursday, while the Nasdaq Composite Index shed 1.2% after Nvidia's earnings report showed that fourth-quarter revenue growth slowed, despite beating analysts' estimates.

"We believe big market moves in recent months should be a trigger to review portfolios," said Mark Haefele, chief investment officer at UBS Global Wealth Management.

"Higher-than-expected capital expenditure and rising competition have raised uncertainty in the AI field, making selectivity and diversification more important."

European equity funds saw weekly inflows of $11.69 billion after a net $18.61 billion purchase in the prior week. Asian and US funds drew net inflows of $3.22 billion and $2.01 billion, respectively.

Sectoral funds had a mixed set of data as industrials, and metals and mining secured net inflows of $1.5 billion and $1.02 billion, respectively, while financials and tech faced outflows of $2.55 billion and $257 million, respectively.

Inflows into bond funds, meanwhile, cooled to a five-week low of $12.68 billion.

The short-term bond funds segment received $1.25 billion, the smallest weekly net since January 21. Euro-denominated bond funds and corporate bond funds had inflows of $2.2 billion and $1.4 billion, respectively.

Money market funds saw the largest weekly net purchase in three weeks, at approximately $19.97 billion.

Gold and precious metals commodity funds saw a surge in demand in the most recent week as these funds drew $5.57 billion worth of inflows, the largest amount since October 22.

In emerging markets, equity funds drew net investments of $11.86 billion. Investors also pumped $3.13 billion into bond funds, data for a combined 28,718 funds showed.