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Investing.com -- Bank of America said client equity flows were relatively muted last week, even as the S&P 500 posted a 5.7% gain.
According to a Tuesday report, clients made modest purchases in U.S. equities, adding just $0.2 billion after the heavier dip-buying seen the previous week.
The activity was tilted toward exchange-traded funds (ETFs), with single stocks seeing net selling. “Clients bought stocks across all three size segments for a second consecutive week,” BofA strategists Jill Carey Hall and Nicolas Woods noted.
Private clients remained the only consistent net buyers, while institutional and hedge fund clients resumed selling after a brief pause.
Private investors extended their record-breaking streak, marking 18 consecutive weeks of buying to start the year—the longest in the dataset going back to 2008—and recorded their third-largest inflow on record.
Meanwhile, institutional net sales ranked as the third-largest historically.
Corporate buybacks slowed week-over-week but remained above seasonal norms for the second week in a row.
Sector-wise, BofA said its clients trimmed positions in seven out of 11 sectors, with the Consumer Staples and Discretionary groups seeing the largest outflows.
In contrast, Tech and Communication Services saw the biggest inflows. Health Care and Materials continued their strong run, attracting net inflows for five and seven straight weeks, respectively.
Utilities were again under pressure despite year-to-date outperformance versus the Nasdaq. The sector has now logged outflows in nine of the past 10 weeks, with the rolling four-week average hitting its most negative level in over five years.
On the ETF side, for the second week, clients bought all styles and sizes except Growth. Tech, Consumer Discretionary, Energy, and Materials ETFs led inflows, while Health Care ETFs saw the largest outflows.