The US, the emblem of capitalism and the free market, has been making headlines this year that would have been hard to believe in a pre-Trump era. With the scare now forgotten, the spring of 2025 will go down in history for the unprecedented credibility crisis generated by the rhetoric of a US president. Between March and April, Donald Trump announced tariffs on a large part of the world's countries, with initial rates that bordered on hyperbole but resulted in a drop in the US currency, the American stock market (including technology), and injected great uncertainty into economic forecasts. This led to a change in sentiment among European investors who began to return home - to Europe - and discussions began about the need to diversify and reduce exposure to US technology in portfolios.
With less than a month left in the year, US stock funds are experiencing the highest volume of withdrawals of the 21st century. According to Inverco data as of the end of November, US equity funds recorded net outflows totaling 1.773 million euros in 2025. It is the first time in 8 years that more money has been withdrawn than invested in these products. To put it into context, the money that has disappeared from US funds alone equals half of all the money invested in Spanish stock funds.
Behind this outflow from US stock funds are various reasons. One of them is undoubtedly the great asset rotation that began last spring due to the volatility introduced by Donald Trump, but that is not the only reason. The collapse of the dollar against other currencies has also led many domestic investors to unwind their positions. Against the euro, the US currency has experienced its largest drop in the last eleven years, exceeding 11%. Additionally, it is widely known that US stock markets are trading at historic highs thanks to the surge of US tech giants, causing some unease regarding the valuations of certain listed companies, such as Nvidia (with a market capitalization over 4.4 trillion dollars), Apple (above 4 trillion), or Microsoft (with a market value of 3.55 trillion).
The last time the US stock market experienced a significant correction was in 2022 when the S&P 500 dropped by 14.4%. The same happened with the Nasdaq 100, a technology-focused index, which, except for 2022, has been rising at double-digit rates, over 33% in 2024 and 49% in 2023, and has seen increases of over 35% in five of the last six years. After so much stock market gain, and amid fears of a possible AI bubble burst, some have chosen to cash out.
Conversely, funds investing in European stocks received net inflows (after deducting divestments) totaling 173 million euros, something that had not happened since 2021, ending a trend of capital outflows to the US and other regions that had lasted for three years. This means that only 9% of all the money that left the funds since 2022 has returned.
In the annual balance, funds investing in Spanish stocks continue to struggle. Not even in a year of historical gains, exceeding 40% for the Ibex 35, have domestic investors wanted to enter the national product. The net balance shows outflows of 21 million euros, making 2025 the fourth consecutive year in which withdrawals exceed money inflows. In fact, of the 1 billion euros that Spanish equity funds have increased their assets by, it could be said that not a single euro has come from new money inflows, but rather all from market appreciation.