U. S. Investors Play It Safe Ahead of Fed Move and Tech Reports

Investors in the U. S. took a step back from big moves last week. They put less money into stock funds as they waited for the Federal Reserve's decision on interest rates and big tech companies' earnings reports. This cautious approach led to a significant drop in investments compared to the previous week. Instead of pouring in billions, they only added $1. 81 billion to stock funds. This was a big change from the $9. 65 billion they invested the week before. The Federal Reserve did cut rates by 0. 25% as expected, but hinted that they might not change rates again in December unless new data comes in.Big company stocks saw some love, with $1. 57 billion flowing in. But smaller companies weren't as lucky, with mid and small-cap funds seeing outflows of $1. 65 billion and $1. 44 billion, respectively. Tech stocks had a good week, attracting $1. 65 billion, the most since October 1. Meanwhile, financials and consumer discretionary sectors saw outflows of $662 million and $314 million. Bond funds continued to attract investors, with $4. 91 billion poured in, marking the fourth week of inflows. Investors favored short-to-intermediate investment-grade funds and general domestic taxable fixed income funds, adding $1. 72 billion and $1. 47 billion, respectively. However, they pulled out $1. 23 billion from short-to-intermediate government and Treasury funds. Money market funds also saw a second week of inflows, with a net $1. 46 billion added. This shows that investors are looking for safer places to park their money amid uncertainty.