Investors pull out of emerging markets and into Europe European equity funds have seen the longest streak of inflows for more than six years as investors pull out of emerging markets as well as US equity funds, data showed on Friday. Some $1.6bn flowed into Europe equity funds tracked by EPFR, the funds data provider, in the seven days to Wednesday. That brought to almost $12bn the total inflows since the start of July. The previous longest streak of inflows was in the first quarter of 2007. The increased investor interest reflected the continent's brightening economic prospects but also worries about financial turmoil in developing economies. In contrast, emerging market equity funds this week saw their worst weekly performance since the middle of last year. About $1.5tn has evaporated from emerging stock markets since early May, when investors began to fret about the US Federal Reserve's plans to scale back its asset purchases, or "quantitative easing," according to Bloomberg data. Since then, the Fed's tapering plans have led to strong capital outflows from emerging economies, which have seen their currencies and stock markets tumbling and borrowing costs spiking as analysts and fund managers became progressively more downbeat on their prospects. Even long-term emerging market "bulls" have turned more pessimistic. Andrew Garthwaite, global equity strategist at Credit Suisse, recommended in early August that investors take a neutral position towards emerging markets, the first time he had not had an "overweight" recommendation since 1999. As well as equities, emerging market bond funds have seen strong redemptions, with outflows since May 29 totalling almost $24bn, or 8 per cent of assets under management, according to EPFR. However, investor interest remains strong in so-called "frontier" economies such as Argentina, Vietnam, Iraq and Bosnia. Frontier market equity funds this week posted inflows for the 30th time in the 33 weeks so far this year. US equity funds saw outflows of $14.3bn this week, the highest weekly figure since June 2008. According to EPFR, institutional investors were taking money off the table to remain on the sidelines ahead of the Labor Day weekend and pending clarification of the Fed's intentions. Cameron Brandt, EPFR research director, noted that US equity fund outflows and US money market inflows were "pretty evenly matched this week." Offsetting such outflows, investors appear to be turning increasingly positive about Europe, with the inflows into Europe equity funds since early July equivalent to more than 1.6 per cent of assets under management. With the eurozone officially having exited recession, the FTSE Eurofirst 300 index has risen almost 10 per cent since late June. Spain's Ibex index has increased more than 15 per cent over the same period. EPFR said investors were preferring exposure to the entire region, rather than specific countries, with "Europe" and "Europe excluding the UK" regional funds accounting for almost all the week's inflows.