By Sam Boughedda
BofA analysts said Tuesday that last week, the firm's clients sold US equities (-$2.3B) for a second consecutive week.
The note on BofA's equity client flow trends reveals there were outflows from both single stocks and ETFs, which saw the first outflows since early March.
The analysts stated that "all clients were net sellers, led by institutional clients," with equities sold across all three size segments (small/mid/large) for the second consecutive week.
In addition, real estate led the outflows, the largest since July 2021, amid concerns around commercial real estate, while BofA clients also sold financials and materials stocks.
However, buybacks accelerated, revealed the analysts. "Corp. client buybacks picked up and were slightly above typical seasonal trends for the first time in ten weeks," they wrote. "After earnings season begins, buybacks typically accelerate over the subsequent ~6 weeks (chart below). But overall, we expect no net contribution to EPS from buybacks this year."
On ETFs, she explained that clients sold ETFs across styles (Growth/Value/Blend) and across small/mid/large cap ETFs.