US equity funds see largest weekly inflow in eight months

July 4 (Reuters) - U.S. equity funds attracted strong inflows in the week to July 2, as U.S. stocks hit record highs on AI optimism, even as a 90-day pause on U.S. reciprocal tariffs is nearing its July 9 expiry with little progress in trade talks.

According to LSEG Lipper data, investors acquired a hefty $31.6 billion worth of U.S. equity funds in their largest weekly net purchase since November 13, 2024.

Optimism about artificial intelligence-linked stocks surged last week as Micron Technology MU.O, an AI-chip supplier to Nvidia NVDA.O and Advanced Micro Devices, forecast robust fourth-quarter sales.

The large-cap U.S. equity funds segment pulled in $31.04 billion in their best week since December 25, 2024. But mid-cap and small-cap funds had $1.72 billion and $1.09 billion worth of net sales.

Demand for sectoral funds was at the highest in five months as they attracted about $3.4 billion worth of net inflows during the week. The technology and financial sectors had a significant $1.17 billion and $1.04 billion worth of net purchases.

Investors also snapped up a net $6.66 billion worth of U.S. bond funds in an 11th successive week of net buying.

The short-to-intermediate investment-grade funds segments gained a net $4.14 billion weekly inflow, the largest figure since November 20, 2024.

General domestic taxable fixed income funds also received $3.03 billion, while short-to-intermediate government & treasury funds had a net $2.11 billion weekly outflow.

Weekly net investments in money market funds, meanwhile, were at $57.98 billion for the week, the highest in four weeks.