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Investing.com -- Bank of America’s (BofA) institutional clients accelerated their purchases of U.S. equities last week, logging one of the strongest buying weeks since the financial crisis, according to the bank’s latest client flow report. BofA said overall flows were supported by both single-stock and ETF demand as the S&P 500 rose 3.7%.
Strategist Jill Carey Hall highlighted “near-record buying by institutional clients,” noting it was the third-highest weekly total since 2008 and the strongest since early 2023 when measured against market cap.
The buying was driven largely by single-stock inflows of $0.9 billion, the first positive tally in more than a month. Equity ETFs added another $3.5 billion, marking a seventh consecutive week of inflows.
The trend stood in contrast to hedge funds, which turned to selling after two weeks of buying, and private clients, who extended their selling streak to four weeks, the longest since August 2024. Hall said private clients — the most consistent buyers so far this year — have now been sellers for a full month.
Flows were broad-based across market cap segments. Clients bought both large caps and small/micro caps, while mid caps saw a fifth straight week of outflows. Corporate buyback activity slowed, with BofA noting that trailing 52-week buybacks as a share of market cap have been declining since March.
At the sector level, Tech and Industrials recorded the biggest inflows, reversing a six-week stretch of Tech selling. Utilities, Real Estate, and Staples also drew interest.
Communication Services posted the heaviest outflows for a fourth week, and Hall flagged that the rolling four-week average is now “the most negative in the sector’s history since 2018.” Financials and Energy followed with additional outflows.
ETF demand was broad, with buying across size categories and major styles. Growth funds outpaced Value for the first time in three weeks. Health Care and Tech ETFs drew the largest sector inflows, while Staples and Consumer Discretionary ETFs saw the biggest outflows.