Trump announces 50% tariff on copper, effective August 1
Investing.com -- U.S. equity inflows among Bank of America Securities clients continued for a third consecutive week, with clients adding $3.2 billion despite the S&P 500 losing 0.5%.
Investors remained net buyers of both single stocks and exchange-traded funds (ETFs), with inflows spanning all market cap segments.
Hedge funds returned to the buy side for the first time in five weeks, marking just their third week of net purchases this year. Still, Year-to-date (YTD) selling by hedge funds remains the largest over any comparable period since 2008, according to Bank of America data.
CFTC positioning also continues to show net shorts among speculators, suggesting a potential pain trade if the market rally holds.
Private clients extended their buying streak to 22 straight weeks, the longest in Bank of America’s records since 2008. These investors bought across all sectors and ETFs last week, with the eighth-highest equity inflows in the dataset.
Corporate buybacks, which had been strong during earnings season, eased week over week in line with typical seasonal patterns heading into late June.
Consumer Discretionary stocks led sector inflows, with three straight weeks of buying and the highest four-week average since December.
Tech and Financials also saw continued demand, while Materials—after 10 weeks of inflows—faced their first week of net selling. Communication Services and Industrials also recorded outflows.
ETF activity reflected broad-based interest across styles and sizes, including growth, value, and blend funds, as well as large, mid, and small caps. However, broad market ETFs saw net selling.
Sector-wise, ETF inflows were led by Financials and Industrials, while Energy ETFs posted their first weekly inflow in a month. Energy remains the most sold sector year-to-date, though Bank of America recently upgraded it to Overweight, citing underowned positioning.