Worst start to year for equity flows since 2008: BAML

LONDON (Reuters): A $10 billion wipeout over the last week has compounded the worst start to a year for equity flows since 2008, Bank of America Merrill Lynch strategists said on Friday.

Citing data from flow-tracker EPFR, BAML’s analysts said just over $ 60 billion has now been yanked out of equities since the start of the year. Almost $ 80 billion has been pulled from developed markets while just over $ 18 billion has gone into emerging markets.

They added that $ 8.8 billion has been poured into bonds over the last week, $ 1.2 billion had left gold funds while “Europe = Japan” was now the most consensus trade in the world for investors by their calculations.