Global long-only funds extended a shift away from U.S. equities into international markets in March, and that move carried into the start of the second quarter, according to a Bank of America research note published Tuesday.
In March alone, the note shows long-only managers sold $15.4 billion of U.S. shares. Those funds redeployed capital into Europe with $16.7 billion of purchases and into Japan with $9.8 billion of buys. Emerging markets drew $4.8 billion and Asia Pacific ex-Japan attracted $4.7 billion over the month.
Looking back over the prior 12 months, the cumulative picture is even more pronounced: a net $284 billion was sold out of U.S. equities, while funds increased positions in Asia Pacific ex-Japan by $119 billion and in emerging markets by $71.7 billion.
The flows suggest a broad repositioning within active fund management. BofA notes that active long-only funds were net sellers in most regions during March, with Japan the exception, whereas passive funds registered buys across regions. Year-to-date outflows from U.S. equities reached $131 billion, a figure larger than inflows to any other single region.
By sector, the bank's data show healthcare was the area with the largest purchases during March - the note reports figures of $17.9 billion and $16.1 billion in relation to healthcare flows, as presented in the research. At the same time, funds continued to trim positions in Software and Diversified Financials, registering outflows of $27.8 billion and $9.6 billion respectively.
At the individual stock level, March's top buys included AstraZeneca, Exxon Mobil, Waters Corp, Alphabet, Johnson & Johnson, Vertiv, Roche, RTX, and Kioxia. Among the most sold were Microsoft, Samsung Electronics, JPMorgan Chase, and NVIDIA. Across the 12-month horizon, Meta was the largest single-name seller, with cumulative outflows of $37.3 billion.
BofA also tracks flows across thematic investment categories. Over the last year, Gold and Rare Earths were the themes that attracted the most buying, while Artificial Intelligence experienced the steepest net outflows at -$93.3 billion, followed by Quantum Computing at -$41.6 billion.
On portfolio positioning, the bank reports that active funds are most overweight Europe and most underweight the U.S. The research note states, "In the last three months, funds have cut exposure the most to USA."
For stock selection signals, BofA's "Crowded Positives" screen - which identifies heavily owned, overweight names with strong earnings, price, and news momentum - currently lists Broadcom, TSMC, SK Hynix, ASML, CATL-A, and UniCredit. Conversely, the bank's "Under-owned Negatives" screen highlights names including Coinbase Global, Blackstone, JD.com, Datadog, Mercedes-Benz, and Saudi Arabian Oil as companies where weak momentum coincides with low fund ownership.
Note on data presentation: The research note contains detailed flow figures and screening outputs as summarized above. Where the research presents multiple figures for a single sector entry, the report's formatting has been preserved rather than altered.