Investing.com -- Bank of America Securities said its clients turned back to selling U.S. equities last week after briefly buying the dip, led by outflows from institutional and hedge fund accounts.
The reversal came as the S&P 500 gained 1.7%, with $2.1 billion of single-stock outflows outweighing $1.2 billion of inflows into equity ETFs.
Institutional clients, who had posted near-record buying the prior week, were the largest net sellers, while hedge funds extended their selling streak to a sixth straight week.
Retail clients were buyers for a second consecutive week, favoring mid-cap names after buying across all size segments earlier.
Corporate buybacks rose modestly as earnings season began, while trailing 52-week repurchases as a share of market capitalization “have continued to decline since March and are currently their lowest since May 2024,” BofA strategist Jill Carey Hall said in a note.
Selling was concentrated in technology and financial stocks. Tech saw its first outflow in three weeks, while Financials logged outflows for the eighth time in nine weeks despite “solid 3Q results amid concerns around macro uncertainties and credit ‘cockroaches,’” Hall said.
