Bank of America Securities said its clients last week bought U.S. equities for the second consecutive week. Clients bought both individual stocks and exchange-traded funds (ETFs), with the former attracting large inflows. The S&P 500 rallied 3.9% last week, hitting the highest level since mid-July.
Style-wise, large, mid, and small-cap stocks all experienced inflows, marking the fourth straight week of inflows for large caps and the third for small and mid-caps, BofA strategists noted.
Hedge funds and institutional clients were net buyers for the second consecutive week, with institutional clients turning net buyers for the first time in three weeks. In contrast, private clients were net sellers for the second week in a row.
BofA’s clients bought stocks across nearly all sectors, with the exception of Energy and Industrials.
The most significant buying activity occurred in the Technology and Communication Services sectors, which have also attracted the largest inflows year-to-date. Communication Services continues to lead with the longest buying streak, now at 20 weeks, followed by Consumer Discretionary and Health Care, each seeing inflows for the past five weeks.
Meanwhile, Energy stocks experienced their biggest sales since October 2022, marking a four-week selling streak with the largest outflows in nearly two years.
In the Industrials sector, negative momentum was evident, with clients selling Industrials stocks in five of the last six weeks. Industrials also reported the most negative four-week average flows among the 11 sectors.
As for corporate client buybacks, BofA said repurchases continued to exceed seasonal levels as a percentage of the S&P 500 market cap for the 23rd consecutive week, putting 2024 on pace for a record year in buybacks according to their data.
“While we do not publish sector-level granularity in this report, S&P 500 completed buybacks/mkt. cap have been highest in Comm. Services this year,” strategists highlight.
In the ETF market, inflows were recorded across eight of the 11 sectors. Unlike single stocks, Energy ETFs saw the largest inflows, while Technology ETFs experienced the largest outflows.