US money market funds draw sharp inflows in the week to Oct. 2

(Reuters) – U.S. money market funds saw massive inflows in the week to Oct. 2 as investors sought safer assets on caution ahead of a key payrolls report amid heightened geopolitical concerns in the Middle East.

They acquired U.S. money market funds of a net $41.32 billion during the week following about $113.11 billion worth of net purchases in the previous week, according to LSEG Lipper data.

A stronger-than-expected September non-farm payrolls report on Friday, however, eased worries about the health of U.S. labour market and pared back market bets of a larger Fed rate-cut in November.

U.S. equity funds also gained a significant $30.8 billion worth of inflows during the week, the largest amount since at least December 2020.

Large-cap equity funds garnered a hefty $35.49 billion, the highest inflow since at least January 2019. U.S. investors, however, divested mid-cap, multi-cap, and small-cap funds of a net $1.94 billion, $1.72 billion and $1.31 billion, respectively.

Among sectoral funds, real-estate, utilities and industrial sectors drew $461 million, $356 million and $321 million worth of inflows, respectively, while healthcare and financials suffered $919 million and $537 million worth of net selling.

Demand for U.S. bond funds, meanwhile, eased to the lowest in four weeks as they obtained about $2.8 billion in net purchases.

U.S. short-to-intermediate government and treasury funds had 5.03 billion worth of net sales following three weekly inflows in a row.

Investors, meanwhile, purchased short-to-intermediate investment-grade, municipal debt, and general domestic taxable fixed income funds of $3.6 billion, $1.88 billion and $852 million, respectively.