In its equity client flow trends note this week, analysts at Bank of America said its institutional, hedge fund and private clients were all net sellers of US equities last week.
While buybacks remained strong, BofA noted single stock driven selling last week, with clients selling stocks but buying ETFs.
“All major client groups were net sellers, led by institutional clients, who have sold US equities in six of the last seven weeks,” said analysts at BofA. “Hedge funds and private clients were sellers for the first time in three weeks. Clients sold large and mid caps but bought small caps (fourth straight week of small cap inflows).”
The bank also highlighted big outflows from financials and consumer discretionary stocks, the largest outflows since March 2022, and July 2023, respectively.
1Q results have suggested some cracks emerging in the US consumer, with ‘value’ and ‘trade-down’ frequent soundbites, though employment data and real wage growth remain positive,” added analysts at BofA. “Clients also sold Staples stocks for a second week.”
