Investors pulled more than $20.5 billion from global equities in the past week, showing the impact of trade tensions between the U.S. and China on confidence in financial markets.

A regular note on fund flows from analysts at Bank of America Merrill Lynch revealed that cash leaving equity funds in the week that ended Wednesday was the third highest this year. It came as President Donald Trump ratcheted up a drawn-out trade dispute between the world's two-largest economies by threatening further tariffs on Chinese goods.

U.S. equity funds saw outflows of $14 billion, the largest since Jan. 30, BAML said, citing data from flow tracking specialist EPFR. EPFR looks at institutional and individual investor flows and how they impact global markets. European funds saw $2.5 billion in outflows last week, while $1.3 billion was withdrawn from emerging market equities, with BAML saying the moves reflected "trade deal trauma."

In total, equity fund outflows have now reached $116 billion in 2019, on course for the worst year since 2016, the research said.