Institutional investors returned to individual stocks last week, driving $2.7 billion in inflows after a four-week pause, according to Bank of America. The buying marked the largest institutional inflows since late November, following two weeks of selling. This shift occurred as equity ETFs saw $0.8 billion in outflows after four consecutive weeks of inflows.

Year-to-date, clients have been net sellers of single stocks by about $14 billion while buying roughly $6 billion of equity ETFs. Private clients also participated, purchasing equities in seven of the past eight weeks. Meanwhile, hedge funds registered net sales for the second consecutive week, moving opposite to institutional investors.

Flows concentrated in larger companies, with large-cap equities recording inflows based on combined stock and ETF activity, reversing two weeks of outflows. Smaller companies continued to face pressure, with small and micro-cap stocks seeing outflows for a fifth straight week. BofA noted this segment's rolling four-week average is now the most negative on record following heavy inflows late last year.