BofA analysts said in their weekly equity client flow trends note that they saw record small-cap ETF inflows last week.
Analysts revealed that last week, BofA's clients were net buyers of US equities (+$1.2 billion) after selling equities the week before. They bought both single stocks and ETFs, with ETF inflows outpacing single stock flows for the third week running, an opposite of year-to-date trends, where clients have been bigger buyers of stocks.
"Institutional clients were the sole buyers (besides corporates), while hedge fund and retail clients were net sellers last week," the analysts said. "Corp. client buybacks accelerated but are tracking below the typical seasonal levels at this time for the first time in 14 weeks."
There were also more record communication services inflows. Analysts said the last three weeks have been the three biggest weeks of communication services net buying in the history of the sector since 2018. It also has the longest recent buying streak of any sector at 16 weeks, they added.
When it comes to ETFs, BofA revealed that small-cap ETF momentum continued, with inflows in 22 of the 23 past weeks and the largest weekly inflow in the firm's data history since 2017.
"Despite more positive sentiment, positioning in small caps remains light (see SMID Year Ahead) and valuations remain inexpensive vs. history," the analysts added.