Investing.com -- Bank of America reported a surge in equity inflows last week, primarily led by ETFs, which saw broad-based buying across styles and market sizes.
According to BofA’s equity client flow trends note, institutional and hedge fund clients were the main drivers, marking the first net positive equity inflows in five weeks, as the S&P 500 gained 4.7% for its best weekly performance of the year.
BofA noted, “Clients were net buyers of US equities (+$2.7B)” as investors purchased both single stocks and ETFs.
Interestingly, single stock inflows were focused on large caps, while smaller stocks lagged in client interest. Institutional clients returned to buying after a seven-week hiatus, likely following October’s tax-loss selling period.
Hedge funds were also said to have been active, registering their most significant inflows since August. In contrast, private clients were net sellers, marking their largest outflows since mid-2021.
According to BofA, a notable development was the concentrated buying in Financials ETFs, despite outflows from individual Financial stocks.
Clients sold Financials stocks, but were big buyers of Financial ETFs, BofA said, highlighting that Financial ETFs saw their highest inflows since February.
In contrast, other popular sector ETFs included Staples and Health Care, while Energy and Utilities ETFs experienced the largest outflows.
Corporate buybacks also accelerated, with BofA noting they were tracking at “new historical highs” as a percentage of S&P 500 market cap.
In terms of single stock sectors, client buying was seen in Tech and Health Care, with Consumer Discretionary stocks receiving inflows from both institutions and hedge funds.
On the other hand, clients continued to sell stocks in Financials, Staples, Energy, and Materials, revealing a mixed sentiment across various sectors.