Over the past month (and year) the market may appear rangebound driven mostly by a handful of top stocks, but below the surface the “smart money” continues to sell.

According to Bank of America last week, during which the S&P 500 was essentially flat, BofAML clients were net sellers of $1.3bn of US stocks, following two weeks of net buying. Net sales were led by institutional clients, who have sold US stocks for the last five consecutive weeks. Hedge funds were also net sellers following two weeks of buying, while private clients were the sole net buyers. Private clients have bought US stocks in four of the last five weeks, and net buying by this group last week was the biggest in two months (chiefly due to ETFs).