Intel stock extends gains after report of possible U.S. government stake
Investing.com -- Bank of America reported in its equity client flow trends note on Tuesday that private clients have extended their buying streak to an unprecedented 11 consecutive weeks, marking the longest start-of-year streak in the firm’s data history.
Last week, despite the S&P 500 declining 1.7%, clients were net buyers of $3.6 billion in U.S. equities, continuing their strong buying momentum.
“Private clients’ recent buying streak is the longest of any start to the year in our data history, with inflows across most sectors (except Tech/Consumer),” BofA analysts wrote.
Institutional clients were also net buyers for the first time in five weeks, while hedge funds (HFs) continued to sell for the second straight week.
Among the sectors, BofA said Financials saw its third-largest weekly inflow since 2008, continuing a seven-week buying streak, the longest among all sectors.
“Rolling 4-week average flows into the sector are now the largest since September 2021,” BofA noted, adding that Financials is well-positioned to benefit from a sustained productivity cycle and deregulation, though current valuations do not fully reflect these tailwinds.
Clients are also said to have heavily bought Tech stocks, marking their largest inflows since December, while Consumer Discretionary saw its biggest inflows since December as well. Health Care remained strong, ranking fourth in year-to-date inflows behind Tech, Communication Services, and Financials.
On the ETF front, BofA said equity ETFs experienced outflows, with clients preferring Fixed Income and Commodity ETFs. Value-focused ETFs and mid/small-cap ETFs saw inflows, while Growth ETFs and large-cap ETFs saw outflows.
Meanwhile, Industrials saw its ninth-largest outflow in BofA’s data history and has now recorded outflows in seven of the last eight weeks, with Utilities and Materials also posting losses.