Some of the market’s biggest investors were taking risks ahead of this week’s busy slate of earnings reports and the Federal Reserve meeting, according to Bank of America. The bank’s clients sold historically high volumes of individual stocks last week, strategist Jill Carey Hall said in a note to clients on Tuesday. “Last week ( S&P 500 +0.7%), clients were the biggest net sellers of US equities ($6.96B, the biggest weekly outflow since November 2020) after buying equities three weeks earlier. Single stocks saw record outflows,” the note said. According to the note, sales were driven by hedge funds and institutional clients. These moves were focused on large-cap stocks and technology names in particular. “Clients sold stocks in seven of 11 sectors, led by tech and communications services, with record weekly outflows from both sectors. Selling in these two sectors is notable because they include many of the stocks that have driven this year’s market rally. The Technology Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLK), for example, is up more than 40% for the year. XLK YTD Mountain Tech sector funds such as XLK are outperforming 2023 Several major tech and communications companies have earnings reports this week. Quarterly reports from Alphabet and Microsoft are due after the market closes Tuesday. MetaPlatforms is scheduled to release its results Wednesday afternoon. The Federal Reserve is set to announce its latest rate policy on Wednesday, another source of potential volatility that could encourage investors to reduce their equity exposure. — CNBC’s Michael Bloom contributed to this report.
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Source by [CNBC News]
