They were still buying US stocks over the last several days.

If you were curious to know whether US equity-focused ETFs and mutual funds saw more inflows in the week leading into one of America’s “holiest” holidays, the answer’s “yes.”

US shares took in more than $36 billion, bringing the four-week inflow to $141 billion, a record.

As the figure makes clear, these flows are escalatory in nature. This week made eight in a row and 10 in 11.

It’s been a banner year. 2024 will almost surely go down as the best flows year ever for US shares, and it’s no secret why: There’s no alternative, or at least that’s the narrative, and it resonates with investors and PMS.

The figure below, from BofA’s Michael Hartnett, gives you some context looking back to 2020.

It’s been an all American decade. Funds dedicated to US equities have seen well more than a trillion of inflows, while those focused on Europe, Japan and developing economies have managed less than a quarter of that combined.

“The investment backdrop heading into 2025 is one of big US-RoW economic decoupling [as] aggressive US growth and trade policies [look] set to exacerbate the US boom and global bust,” Hartnett wrote.

I’m instantly reminded of the client quote cited by Morgan Stanley’s Mike Wilson just before Thanksgiving: “Ten years ago, for every five high-quality US companies, I could find one outside the US; now that ratio is 10 or 15 to 1.”