Investors desert the middle ground and pull $100bn out of equity funds

Date: Monday, March 31, 2008
Author: Deborah Brewster in New York, FT.com

Investors worldwide pulled close to $100bn (£50bn) out of equity funds in the first three months of this year - a record shift that accelerates a longer-term trend away from US and western European stock markets.

Equity funds suffered outflows of $98bn in the quarter ending March 28, according to Emerging Portfolio Fund Research, which tracks retail and institutional flows. The funds had inflows of $19bn during the same period last year and inflows of $49bn in the same period for 2006.

EPFR said the outflows were because "the credit squeeze linked to the US subprime debt mess weighed on investor confidence and global growth".

The outflows also accelerate a trend for investors to put their money either in ultra-safe cash options such as money market funds, or into riskier markets and high-fee products such as hedge funds. They are abandoning the middle ground of mainstream equity and fixed income funds, especially in the developed markets