BofA Securities said that last week its clients became net buyers of US equities for the first time in three weeks, with purchases totaling $6.1 billion, marking the fifth-largest inflow in history.
Clients bought both single stocks and ETFs, with single stock inflows reaching the highest levels recorded since 2008, BofA highlighted.
All major client groups, including retail investors, hedge funds, and institutions, were net buyers. Institutional clients led the inflows, marking their largest since November 2022. Both large and small caps saw consistent inflows over the past five weeks, while mid-caps experienced outflows for the first time in five weeks.
Meanwhile, BofA corporate client buybacks slowed but remained above typical seasonal levels as a percentage of S&P 500 market cap for the 17th consecutive week.
Sector-wise, clients purchased stocks across all sectors except Energy, with Technology leading for the fifth consecutive week and Discretionary experiencing the largest weekly inflow since 2008.
“Comm. Svcs. continues to have the longest buying streak (last 14 weeks) and Staples saw the 10th largest weekly inflow in our data history,” strategists at BofA Securities said.
BofA said its clients purchased equity ETFs for the fifth consecutive week, with inflows spanning eight of the eleven ETF sectors, led by Financials. Health Care ETFs, however, experienced the largest outflow.