Precious metal funds recorded the fourth-largest inflows ever in the week to Wednesday and investment-grade funds sucked in money, Bank of America Merrill Lynch said on Friday, as rising trade tensions and global growth concerns prompted a dash for safe havens.

Two new BlackRock Inc funds that exclude gun makers are off to slow starts as socially-minded investors embrace other products addressing a wide range of issues like environmental and governance concerns, according to flow data at the world's largest asset manager.

U.S.-based high-yield junk bond funds posted more than $4 billion of outflows in the week ended Wednesday, the largest weekly cash withdrawals since October 2018, according to Refinitiv's Lipper data, triggered by an escalating trade war between China and the United States.

The rapidly growing exchange-traded-funds sector does not pose a threat to financial stability as the market has coped well so far with liquidity crunches, research from Britain's Financial Conduct Authority said on Thursday.

Many Chinese investors are piling into products that provide a hedge against a stock market collapse, convinced now that the Sino-U.S. trade war will drag on and, if anything, intensify.

When stocks are volatile, conventional wisdom says to stay the course. But what if you have tuition due or a pending home purchase and you just really need to cash out?

Short-sellers targeting U.S. stocks logged a one-day paper profit of $24.75 billion on the sell-off on Aug. 5, according to data from financial technology and analytics firm S3 Partners.

J.C. Penney Co Inc has been struggling to reassure investors it can lure shoppers back into its stores amid fierce competition from online giants like Amazon.com Inc and discount retailers like TJX Cos Inc's Marshalls and T.J. Maxx chains.

Investors retreated from the U.S. stock market last week despite the benchmark S&P 500 reaching new record highs, pulling nearly $9.1 billion from mutual funds and exchange-traded funds that hold domestic stocks, according to data released Wednesday by the Investment Company Institute.

The Bank of Japan held off on expanding stimulus on Tuesday but committed to doing so "without hesitation" if a global slowdown jeopardizes the country's economic recovery.