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Healthcare leads S&P sector gainers; Comm Svcs weakest group
Dollar ~flat; bitcoin off ~1%; crude down ~4%; gold up >1.5%
US 10-Year Treasury yield falls to ~4.06%
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BOFA CLIENTS BOUGHT LAST WEEK'S DIP, BUT WITH A DEFENSIVE TILT
Bofa Securities equity and quant strategist Jill Carey Hall says that last week, with the S&P 500 index .SPX sliding around 1.6%, clients were net buyers of U.S. equities, led by near-record buying of ETFs (+$4.3 billion) vs. outflows from single stocks (-$2.6 billion) for a second week following the prior week's record single stock outflows.
Clients sold stocks across all size segments, but were net buyers of large and small caps overall as a result of ETF buying.
"Institutional clients were the sole net buyers after selling the prior week; hedge fund clients were net sellers after two weeks of buying and retail clients were net sellers for the 1st time since the end of Sept," writes Hall in her note.
She adds that "Historically, our retail clients have been the most persistent dip-buyers (particularly since 2020), though institutional clients have begun buying dips this year."
According to Hall, corporate client buybacks ramped up last week, b ut were still below typical seasonal levels for this point during third-quarter earnings season. Of note, trailing 52-week buybacks as a percentage of market cap have declined since this March and are now their lowest level since March 2024.
Hall says that staples saw the largest inflows with inflows now for five weeks in a row. Healthcare saw the next-largest inflows, suggesting to her, a defensive tilt to flows.
Tech and communication services garnered the biggest outflows.
In terms of equity ETFs, Hall says clients bought for a fourth straight week, with inflows across major styles, including blend, growth, and value, as well as small, mid, large, and broad market sizes, though flows skewed toward growth over value for the first time in eight weeks.
Clients sold ETFs in six of the 11 sectors, led by tech.
Financials ETFs saw the largest inflows.
(Terence Gabriel)
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