U.S. President Donald Trump delivers remarks at the White House in Washington, D.C., on April 2, 2025.
Brendan Smialowski | Afp | Getty Images
Stocks on Wall Street and beyond have been rocked by volatility in recent weeks, as U.S. President Donald Trump rolled out some tariffs, paused others, and ramped up duties on Chinese goods to unprecedented levels.
Strategists at the Bank of America shed light on where some of the capital flowing out of the U.S. may be heading.
According to their data analysis, U.S. equities saw an $8.9 billion outflow in the week to April 30. For every $100 inflow to American stocks since the 2024 presidential election, there had been a $5 outflow over the past three weeks, the investment bank’s strategists said in a note to clients on May 1.
At the same time, European equities saw a $3.4 billion inflow, according to the Wall Street bank.
Meanwhile, Japanese equities saw a $4.4 billion inflow in the week to April 30 — its biggest week of inflows since April 2024.
In a sign that investors were in a risk-taking mood, BofA said that cryptocurrencies and high yield bonds saw inflows of $2.3 billion and $3.9 billion in the past week, respectively. Gold and U.S. Treasury bonds collectively had $6 billion in outflows.
Bank of America also revealed that its private clients, who collectively have $3.7 trillion in assets, began to worry more about deflation in the United States, relative to inflationary risks over the past four weeks.
The bank said its investor clients were buying shares of utilities and low-volatility high-dividend ETFs, typically considered “deflationary defensive” assets, and were selling “inflation hedges” such as debt instruments, inflation-protected Treasury bonds, and financial sector ETFs.