Treasuries set for worst streak since U.S. independence, as investors bag tech stocks

LONDON (Reuters) – Bullish investors poured money into tech stocks for the 10th straight week, the longest streak in two years BofA Global Research said, while U.S. Treasuries are set for their worst yearly performance since the Declaration of Independence.

There were a net $10.3 billion of inflows into equity funds in the week to Wednesday, with investors putting $5.1 billion into tech stocks, the most since May, and $4.9 billion into emerging market stocks, BofA said on Friday, citing data from provider EPFR.

Investors have been buying stocks on increasing hopes that the U.S. economy will achieve a soft landing – slowing enough to bring inflation back to the Federal Reserve’s target, but not dramatically.

However, the aggressive pace of Fed rate hikes that has helped slow inflation along with pandemic-era stimulus, has weighed heavily on U.S. Treasuries, which are set to decline in value for the third straight year, something that “has never occurred in the 250-year history of the U.S. republic,” according to BofA’s calculations.

The flows into equities have also been narrowly based, with tech stocks accounting for $34 billion of inflows year to date, vastly ahead of the next largest sector, consumer stocks, with $4 billion in inflows.

This means, the breadth in global markets is “breathtakingly bad” BofA said, with MSCI’s All Country World index at its narrowest since 2003.

The data also showed there were also $6.5 billion of inflows to cash in the week to Wednesday, $1.7 billion of inflows to bonds and $300 million of outflows from gold, in this time.

BofA’s “bull-bear’ indicator rose to a five month high of 4.4 thanks to the flows into emerging market stocks.

(Reporting by Alun John; Editing by Amanda Cooper)