US-focused equity ETFs and mutual funds scored another big inflow over the latest weekly reporting period. It counted as the third consecutive outsized haul.

Over the last three weeks, US equity funds raked in almost $50 billion, according to EPFR.

Recall that the prior week saw the second-largest influx of 2023. Overall, US funds have enjoyed a half dozen straight weekly inflows.

Sentiment around US equities inflected meaningfully in November, as bond yields retraced lower amid a run of soft macro data which, according to market pricing anyway, effectively extinguished all odds of another rate hike from the Fed.

“94% of equity inflows in DM were into US equities” this week, TD Securities strategists including Chris Whelan wrote on Friday. “The flows in US equities are commensurate with the move in fixed income, as markets price a softer Fed policy outlook.”

Notably, individual investor sentiment improved again in the week to November 22. AAII’s bull index hit 45.3%.

The figure above shows cumulative inflows to US stock funds (i.e., the running net total) alongside individual investor sentiment. Market participants are feeling demonstrably better about things all of a sudden.

I’ll recycle some familiar language updated for this week. 2023’s flows story in US equity funds can be divided into two regimes: Pre-Nvidia Q1 report/debt ceiling deal and post-those two events. By late-May, net flows to US equity funds were negative to the tune of almost $70 billion for the year. With this week’s inflow, US-focused funds have taken in a net $55 billion.

Thanks in part to ongoing inflows to equity funds, BofA’s pseudo-famous Bull & Bear Indicator jumped to 2.1 this week, ending the contrarian “buy” signal after a month.