Something unusual happened on Wall Street last week.
Institutional investors fled U.S. stocks at near-historic speed — and simultaneously broke a buying record in the one sector they apparently still trust.
The Rotation No One Expected
According to Bank of America data tracking the bank’s client flows for the week of March 16–20, single-stock outflows hit $8.3 billion — the fourth-largest weekly bleed since 2008 — while equity ETF outflows added another $1.1 billion, the largest in six months.
The S&P 500 – as tracked by the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSE:SPY) – fell 5.8% during the period.
Nine of eleven sectors saw net selling.
Total single-stock and ETF outflows combined reached $9.3 billion in a single week.
Financials led outflows at $3.5 billion — and have now seen net selling every single week since Jan. 1, without exception. Consumer Discretionary (-$2.6 billion), Energy (-$1.8 billion) and Consumer Staples (-$1.7 billion) all registered record or near-record weekly outflows.
Yet Technology absorbed $4.6 billion in net inflows — the largest single-week figure BofA has recorded for the sector since it began tracking flows in 2008.
When everyone was selling everything, the smart money quietly bought the dip in Tech.
As a percentage of the S&P 500 Technology market cap, it ranks as the 8th largest inflow ever.
The move didn’t come from retail. It came from institutional clients — the same cohort that was simultaneously dumping $11 billion in single stocks across the rest of the market.
The signal is statistically significant beyond what size alone would suggest. Clients had been selling Tech for five consecutive weeks before this reversal.
| Sector | Last Week ($mn) | 4-wk Avg | 5-yr Z-Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| Technology | +4,684 (Record) | +2,227 | +4.73 |
| Health Care | -93 | +401 | +0.29 |
| Industrials | -756 | -31 | -1.25 |
| Communication Svcs. | -392 | +995 | -0.52 |
| Consumer Staples | -1,636 | -85 | -3.99 |
| Consumer Disc. | -2,635 | -363 | -3.80 |
| Energy Near-Rec. | -1,770 | -601 | -5.22 |
| Utilities Near-Rec. | -813 | -118 | -4.39 |
| Financials Near-Rec. | -3,541 | -2,035 | -4.84 |
| Materials Near-Rec. | -843 | -254 | -3.25 |
| Real Estate | -559 | +2 | -2.35 |
Who Was Selling — And Who Wasn’t
Institutional clients were the dominant force behind the selloff, posting $11 billion in net outflows for the week — a reversal after three straight weeks of net buying.
Private clients added to the pressure, registering outflows for the second consecutive week.
Hedge funds were the lone contrarians.
They were net buyers to the tune of $1.8 billion, snapping four straight weeks of selling. Their purchases were concentrated in single stocks, where they bought $2.7 billion while reducing equity ETF exposure by $900 million.
By market cap, large caps absorbed the heaviest selling at $7.7 billion in net outflows. Small and micro cap stocks have now seen eight consecutive weeks of selling — the longest such streak in the current data window.
What History Says About Tech Buying After A Selloff
Before last week, BofA clients had sold Technology stocks for five consecutive weeks.
In the four prior instances since 2008 where clients reversed course and bought Tech following a selling streak of that length, the Technology Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE:XLK) outperformed the broader S&P 500 by an average of 1.7 percentage points over the following month and 6.0 percentage points over the following three months.
Year to date, Technology remains the only sector with positive single stock flows among BofA clients, at +$4.3 billion. Every other sector is in net outflow territory for 2026, led by Financials at -$17.5 billion.
Image created using artificial intelligence via Midjourney.
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