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BOFA CLIENTS SWITCHED TO BUYING LAST WEEK

Clients bought U.S. equities last week for the first time in five weeks BofA Securities equity and quant strategist Jill Carey Hall says in her latest report on equity client flows.

According to Hall, in a week where the S&P 500 index .SPX surged 4.7%, for its biggest weekly gain since early-November of last year, net buying of U.S. equities was +$2.7B.

Clients bought both single stocks and ETFs. In fact, ETFs saw their biggest inflows in a year. Of note, despite the small cap surge, buying was entirely in large caps as clients sold small and mid caps.

"Institutional and hedge fund clients were buyers, with the first inflows from institutional clients in seven weeks after bigger-than-usual Oct. outflows during tax loss selling season," writes Hall.

She adds, "hedge funds were buyers for a third straight week (biggest inflows by this group since Aug). Private clients were the sole net sellers, with their biggest outflows since mid 2021."

Corporate client buybacks remained strong and continue to track above seasonal levels as a percentage of S&P 500 market cap. YTD, corporate client buybacks as a percent of market cap are on pace for record highs.

Clients snapped up stocks in seven of the 11 GICS sectors, led by tech and healthcare.

Despite the post-election financials rally, Hall says all three client groups sold single stocks in financials and the sector continues to have the longest selling streak at five weeks.

Regarding ETFs, Hall says clients bought ETFs across styles (blend/value/growth) and sizes (large/mid/small/broad market).

ETF inflows were led by financials, staples and healthcare.

Energy and utilities ETFs saw the largest outflows.

(Terence Gabriel)

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