Investors flock to stocks to chase the bull, says BofA.

Investors Pour Into Equities as Sentiment Hits 19-Month High

By Samuel Indyk

LONDON (Reuters) – Investors bought stocks and took money out of cash funds in the week to Wednesday, as individual investor sentiment hit a 19-month high, BofA Global Research found.

Investors put $22.3 billion into stocks and took $37.9 billion from cash, the first outflow in eight weeks, BofA said citing EPFR data on Friday.

BofA said individual investor sentiment had risen “with frothy stocks as investors chase the bull”.

“We say ‘big rally before big collapse’, but the latter now needs 6% terminal Fed funds, real rates to 2%, unemployment rate >4%,” BofA analysts said.

Global stocks hit their highest in 14 months on Friday, even as central banks, including the Federal Reserve and European Central Bank, said more rate hikes were likely this week.

The S&P 500 closed at its highest level since April 2022 on Thursday and is on track for its fifth consecutive week of gains, its longest winning streak since November 2021.

U.S. stocks have seen $38 billion in inflows in the last three weeks, the strongest momentum since Oct. 2022, BofA said, while tech funds have seen $19 billion flow in in the last eight weeks, the strongest momentum since March 2021.

“We see max SPX 100-150 points upside versus 300 points downside between now and Labor Day,” BofA said. “We are not convinced we at start of brand, new shiny bull market.”

Citing the same EPFR data, Barclays said the equity inflows were the largest since November last year, with inflows across all sectors except energy.

BofA’s bull and bear indicator slipped to 3.6 from 3.7 as slowing inflows to risky bonds offset bullish hedge funds and better credit technicals, BofA said.

A separate set of data showed global equity funds received their largest inflow in 12 weeks.

In the week ended June 14, investors added a net $16.18 billion to global equity funds, nearly offsetting the $17.69 billion in net selling observed a week earlier, according to data from Refinitiv Lipper.

(Reporting by Samuel Indyk; Editing by Amanda Cooper and Barbara Lewis)

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