In BofA's latest equity client flow trends note, analysts at the investment bank said there were equity outflows across client groups last week, with more big healthcare outflows.
The equity outflows continue to be led by single stocks. Last week Bank of America's clients were net sellers of US equities for a third consecutive week. The outflows were primarily in single stocks, while ETFs saw inflows for a fifth consecutive week.
"All major client groups were sellers," said the bank. "Hedge funds, institutional clients and retail clients were all net sellers (sixth consecutive week, fourth consecutive week, and first time in two weeks, respectively). Clients sold stocks primarily in mid-caps while large and small caps saw inflows."
However, buybacks were at multi-year highs, accelerating last week and tracking above typical seasonal levels at this time for the sixth consecutive week.
When it comes to sectors, net sales were driven by health care, which saw the eighth largest weekly outflow in BofA's data history after the prior week’s record outflows. "It continues to have the longest recent selling streak of any sector (last nine weeks). Sales have been driven by institutional/retail clients," explained the investment bank.
Meanwhile, communication services stocks saw the largest inflows for a second consecutive week.