U.S. stock funds draw $27.98 billion as earnings and AI boost appetite

Money kept moving into U.S. stock funds even as geopolitical tension, elevated oil prices and a cloudy policy backdrop should have made investors cautious. In the week ended April 22, those funds drew $27.98 billion, the largest inflow in four weeks and the biggest weekly purchase since about $36.94 billion in the week through March 25.

The buying was not confined to one corner of the market. Technology funds took in $5.03 billion, while industrials and financials also led the pack. Growth funds attracted $4.92 billion, their strongest showing in five weeks, and value strategies also pulled in cash, a sign that the appetite for risk was broader than a simple chase for high-flying names.

Corporate earnings helped explain the demand. With 82% of reporting S&P 500 companies beating analyst estimates, investors had fresh evidence that profits were holding up better than many had feared. That backdrop made it easier to look past unsettling headlines and keep buying equities, especially as global equity funds also posted a surge to a more than 17-month high in the same week, powered by artificial intelligence optimism and strong first-quarter results from major U.S. banks.

Amazon added fuel to that trade on April 20, saying it would invest as much as $25 billion in Anthropic. Reuters reported that Anthropic committed to spending more than $100 billion over the next 10 years on Amazon cloud technologies, giving the announcement an infrastructure dimension beyond a single headline number and reinforcing the case for spending across the AI supply chain.

Markets were already leaning risk-on. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq were near record highs, and the Cboe Volatility Index had fallen more than 27% in a month. By April 24, both indexes had closed at record levels as traders looked past the conflict in the Middle East and focused instead on earnings and the prospect of resumed U.S.-Iran talks. West Texas Intermediate crude still sat above $94 a barrel that day, and the IMF’s April 2026 World Economic Outlook warned that renewed Middle East conflict could keep inflationary pressures alive.

For now, the flow data suggest investors are betting that earnings strength and AI capital spending matter more than the latest geopolitical flare-up. If companies keep beating estimates and the AI buildout stays aggressive, the rally could continue to broaden.