Risk appetite continued to wane during the week ending May 18 as investors digested a fresh round of lukewarm-to-cold macroeconomic data, fresh speculation that Greek debt will be restructured and the fact that the official end to the US Federal Reserve's QE2 program is now less than eight weeks away.

Flows into EPFR Global-tracked funds reflected this shift, with Emerging Markets Equity Funds posting their first weekly outflow since the third week of March while Bond Funds collectively enjoyed their best week since late October.

The uncertain global outlook kept the pressure on Commodity Sector Funds, which suffered heavy redemptions for the third week running, and took its toll on most of the major equity fund groups.

Overall, EPFR Global-tracked equity funds posted collective outflows of $7.07 billion during the third week of May, with Emerging Markets Equity Funds accounting for $1.64 billion of that total, while bond funds took in a net $4.59 billion.

Fixed income fund groups offering some protection from inflation retained their allure, with Emerging Markets, Floating Rate and High Yield Bond Funds all posting solid inflows, and investors remain willing to jump into areas they think offer value.