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BOFA CLIENTS CONTINUE TO SNAP UP STOCKS

BofA Securities equity and quant strategist Jill Carey Hall says that last week, with the S&P 500 index .SPX dipping about 0.5%, clients were net buyers of U.S. equities (+$3.2 billion) for a third week in a row.

Clients bought both single stocks and ETFs, and purchased stocks in all three size segments.

"Private & hedge fund clients were buyers, while institutional clients were sellers for the first time in three weeks. This was the first week of net buying by hedge funds in five weeks (and only the third week of buying YTD) - cumulative sales by hedge funds YTD are the largest of any comparable period in our data since '08." writes Hall in her note.

Hall adds CFTC data have similarly suggested net short positions by speculative traders all year which potentially suggests a "pain trade for hedge funds if the rally continues."

Private clients have been buyers for 22 straight weeks which is the longest buying streak in BofA's data history since 2008.

Additionally, corporate client buybacks moderated week-over-week after seasonally strong trends the prior five weeks.

Hall says that clients bought stocks in eight sectors, led by consumer discretionary, tech, and financials.

Clients sold materials stocks for the first time in 11 weeks, breaking the longest recent buying streak of the sectors. Communication services and industrials also garnered outflows.

In terms of ETFs, Hall says that clients bought ETFs across styles (growth/value/blend) and sizes (large/mid/small), but sold broad market ETFs.

Clients bought ETFs in six sectors, led by financials and industrials. Energy ETFs, which have seen the biggest outflows so far this year, saw their first inflows in four weeks.

(Terence Gabriel)

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