Global Navigator | US political map changes color but flows follow same route in early November

A “blue wave” swept through the US midterm elections, handing the Democratic Party control of both houses of Congress. But, despite the hostility of many Democratic lawmakers to artificial intelligence (AI), domestic oil and natural gas production and the financial sector, investors steered almost $9.8 billion into Technology Sector Funds and a combined $48.3 billion into all US Equity and Bond Funds during the week ending Nov. 4.

Risk appetite, buoyed by falling oil prices, rebounded coming into November with flows into High Yield Bond Funds hitting a 12-week high, Bear Funds posting their biggest outflow since late July while Leveraged Funds absorbed over $2 billion, Private Credit Funds taking in fresh money for the 37th time so far this year and Collateralized Loan Obligation (CLO) Funds extending an inflow streak stretching back to early March.

Investors did respond to the theft by hackers of over $6 billion from the cryptocurrency platform Binance. Redemptions from Cryptocurrency Funds jumped to an 18-week high. Funds dedicated to Bitcoin took the biggest hit, and Ethereum Funds extended their longest run of outflows since late 1Q25.

Overall, a net $89 billion flowed into all EPFR-tracked Equity Funds – a 20-week high — during the latest reporting period and $140.3 billion into Money Market Funds. Over the past four years, the first week of November has seen Money Market Funds take in an average of $113 billion. Bond Funds added $11.5 billion to their year-to-date total, which now stands at over 99% of the full year record, while outflows from Balanced Funds and Alternative Funds totaled $349 million and $3.73 billion, respectively.

At the single country and asset class fund levels, flows into Bulgaria Equity Funds hit their highest level since late 4Q21, Chinese Mainland Equity Funds posted their second largest weekly inflow since EPFR started tracking them and Australia Bond Funds chalked up their 39th inflow of the year so far. Convertible Bond Funds experienced their heaviest redemptions since the first week of 2Q25, Inflation Protected Bond Funds took in fresh money for the 40th straight week and outflows from Aerospace and Defense Funds climbed to a 19-week high.