Bank of America clients sold U.S. equities for a sixth straight week, pulling $2.2 billion from single stocks and another $0.4 billion from ETFs. This marks the first ETF outflows since early October. Institutional investors drove the selling, posting their fourth consecutive week of net sales.

Hedge funds bucked the trend, buying for a fourth week, while retail investors returned after nine weeks of selling. Large and mid-cap stocks saw the biggest outflows, though small caps notched gains. Corporate buybacks hit their highest level since April, but overall repurchase activity remains below last year's pace.

Seven of eleven sectors saw sales, with Industrials and Financials hit hardest. Industrials suffered their largest outflows since December 2018, and Financials bled money for eight of nine weeks ahead of Q4 earnings. Communication Services bucked the slump with record inflows since the 2018 GICS reclassification, joined by Staples, Energy, and Materials.