Two weeks into the year of the Ox, China funds see flows spike

A week that was turbulent even by the standards of US President Donald Trump’s time in office saw funds dedicated to the primary target of his tariff strategy, China, enjoy a banner week. Between them, EPFR-tracked China Equity, Money Market and Bond Funds absorbed a net $28 billion.

The second quarter kicked off with US President Donald Trump mapping out a path to ‘liberation’ built on the foundation of higher tariffs for nearly all of America’s trading partners.

Another volatile week for global asset markets saw investors gravitate to funds offering exposure to gold, technology, diversified developed markets equity, dollar-denominated liquidity and European stocks during the fourth week of March. With risk appetite still at a low ebb, especially among fixed income investors, Bank Loan Funds extended their longest run of outflows since mid-3Q24, High Yield Bond Funds posted their second outflow over the past three and there was a strong reaction to the latest bout of political unrest in Turkey with EPFR-tracked Turkey Bond and Money Market Funds both setting new outflow records.