LIVE MARKETS-BofA clients edge out of equities for first time in 5 weeks

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BOFA CLIENTS EDGE OUT OF EQUITIES FOR FIRST TIME IN 5 WEEKS

BofA Securities equity and quant strategist Jill Carey Hall says that last week, with the S&P 500 index .SPX sliding 2.6%, clients were net sellers of U.S. equities (-$0.3 billion) for the first time in five weeks.

"Selling was led by institutional clients, who have been net sellers the last three weeks. Hedge funds were also sellers, for the first time in three weeks. Private clients returned to buying equities after selling the week before, and have now been buyers in 24 of the past 25 weeks (a record in our data history)," writes Hall in her note.

She adds "Corp. client buybacks decelerated wk/wk and were lower than typical seasonal levels for the third consecutive week. After peaking at the end of earnings season, buybacks typically continue to decelerate between now and late June."

Hall says that clients sold stocks in seven sectors, led by tech, healthcare and real estate.

Energy garnered the biggest inflows, with net buying for the last six weeks (the longest recent buying streak of any sector).

In terms of ETFs, Hall says clients sold equity ETFs for the first time in five weeks. After four weeks of inflows across styles, clients sold blend/growth ETFs vs further buying of value ETFs. By size segment, only large cap ETFs saw inflows.

Clients off-loaded ETFs in six sectors, led by tech and utilities. They sold energy ETFs despite buying single energy stocks.

Communication services ETFs saw the biggest inflows (and have the longest recent buying streak of the sector ETFs at three weeks).

(Terence Gabriel)

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