US equity funds post first inflow in five weeks on AI optimism

Investors turned buyers of equity funds again after weeks of pulling money out. U.S. equity funds posted their first weekly inflow in five weeks, while global equity funds snapped a two-week outflow streak, according to fund-flow data reported in the session. Both moves were linked to renewed enthusiasm for AI-related stocks. The shift matters because it reverses a recent pattern of caution. Fund flows are one of the clearer signals of where large pools of capital are positioning, and five straight weeks of U.S. outflows had suggested investors were growing wary of valuations, particularly in AI-linked names that have driven much of this year's market gains. What isn't clear is whether this is a one-week bounce or the start of a sustained rotation back into equities. The reporting did not specify the dollar size of the inflows, only that they marked a break from the prior trend.