Bank of America clients were net buyers of U.S. equities for a second straight week as the S&P 500 advanced 1.2%. According to the bank's client flow data, buying was split between direct single-stock purchases and exchange-traded funds - with single-stock allocations totaling $5.1 billion and equity ETF inflows of $1.8 billion.
Institutional, or non-retail, activity was the dominant driver of the week’s demand. BofA’s flow data shows institutional clients registered their second-biggest buying week in the dataset that begins in 2008; the only larger institutional buying week occurred in late 2020. When adjusted for the size of the S&P 500, that institutional buying ranks as the 20th largest week on record.
Hedge funds diverged from the broader institutional trend, acting as net sellers for the first time in five weeks, while retail investors continued to add to positions for the third consecutive week.
Sector trends
Within single-stock activity, financials drew unusually strong interest. Financials single-stock purchases were the second-largest on record, representing a 98th-percentile week when normalized by the sector’s market capitalization within the S&P 500. Technology names also saw outsized single-stock inflows, marking a 93rd-percentile week on the same normalization basis.
Energy recorded its biggest inflow since March 2023, a move BofA associates with a re-escalation of geopolitical tensions. Overall, clients accumulated positions in seven of the S&P 500’s 11 sectors last week.
Not all sectors saw buying. Communication Services experienced the largest outflows of any sector, its biggest weekly outflow since December, and the sector has now recorded seven straight weeks of net withdrawals in BofA’s reporting. Real Estate, Industrials and Materials also registered net selling.
ETF and style flows
ETF flows displayed breadth across investment styles and market-cap segments. Growth-style ETFs received inflows for the first time in six weeks, and most market-cap segments saw purchases, though small-cap ETFs saw net selling. ETF buying occurred across nine of 11 sectors and was concentrated in Technology - mirroring large single-stock inflows into major tech names. Energy and Materials were the only sectors to see ETF outflows.
Corporate buybacks
Corporate client buybacks continued to slow, falling for a seventh straight week to their lowest weekly level since October. On an annualized basis, BofA reports that buybacks by clients are running slightly below the pace implied by full-year 2025 levels and remain below the 2024 record. Nonetheless, annualized buybacks stay above the range observed from 2016 through 2023.
These flow patterns arrive as second-quarter earnings season gets underway, with heavy institutional buying and concentrated sector interest shaping market dynamics heading into corporate results. The week’s activity highlights an appetite for financials and technology exposure among BofA’s client base, while watch areas include prolonged outflows from Communication Services and the continued deceleration in corporate buybacks.