Investing.com — BofA Securities said its clients were significant net buyers of US equities last week, with inflows totaling $6.4 billion.
This marked the fifth consecutive week of net buying activity and represented the sixth-largest weekly inflow since the firm began tracking this data in 2008, and the highest since mid-September.
“Flows were nearly equally split between single stocks and ETFs (slightly larger in the former), with both seeing inflows all weeks since the election,” BofA strategists led by Jill Carey Hall noted.
Institutional and hedge fund clients were active buyers, with institutional clients purchasing equities for the first time in two weeks and hedge funds continuing their buying streak for the third straight week.
In contrast, private clients turned into net sellers after being buyers in the prior week. According to BofA, private client outflows typically peak in December due to tax-loss selling.
Clients showed a preference for large- and mid-cap stocks, while small-cap equities faced selling pressure for the second consecutive week.
Meanwhile, corporate client buybacks also picked up pace, exceeding seasonal averages as a percentage of S&P 500 market capitalization. Year-to-date, corporate buybacks are on track to hit record levels as a share of market cap.
Sector-wise, BofA said its clients purchased equities in eight out of eleven categories, with Technology and Communication Services leading the inflows. Both sectors have now seen consistent buying for five and six weeks, respectively.
Consumer Discretionary and Utilities have also experienced steady buying since the election, while Industrials and Materials have recently gained traction.
Strategists highlighted that the rolling four-week average flows into Industrials are the most positive since early 2022, reflecting potential optimism about a manufacturing rebound.
On the other hand, Staples, Financials, and Energy stocks faced net selling, despite some optimism around deregulation and mergers in Financials, which have seen outflows in three of the last five weeks.
In ETFs, buying was concentrated in Consumer Discretionary, Industrials, and Communication Services, while Staples ETFs led sector outflows.