\n
![](\"https:\/\/fortune.com\/img-assets\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/GettyImages-1948600397-e1720904644838.jpg?w=2048\")
<\/p>\n [ad_1]
\n<\/p>\n
More investors are calling their shots and picking out individual stocks to buy as market gains become concentrated in an increasingly narrow range of companies.<\/p>\n
In a research note on Tuesday, Bank of America<\/a> analysts said clients of BofA Securities were net\u00a0buyers\u00a0of U.S. equities for\u00a0the first time\u00a0in three weeks. <\/p>\n The $6.1 billion net inflow in the prior week marked the fifth largest in BofA\u2019s records. Clients bought both single stocks and exchange-traded funds, but analysts pointed out that the single-stock inflows were the largest in BofA\u2019s data history, which goes back to 2008.<\/p>\n The note also said all major client groups\u2014including retail investors, hedge funds, and institutional investors\u2014were net buyers. Clients bought stocks\u00a0in all sectors except energy, led\u00a0by technology and discretionary shares, which also saw the biggest weekly inflow on record. <\/p>\n And that was before the stock market set fresh record highs over the past week as new inflation data<\/a> gave the Federal Reserve more leeway to cut rates in the near future and Fed Chairman Jerome Powell sounded increasingly dovish<\/a>.<\/p>\n The surge of interest in single stocks comes as stock-picking has been overshadowed by passive investing in recent years, with funds that track indexes like the S&P 500 drawing more and more capital while actively managed funds continue to underperform the market<\/a>.<\/p>\n But the AI boom has highlighted a handful of tech giants with astronomical gains, which are driving the bulk of the market\u2019s recent advances. In fact, Nvidia alone accounted for more than a third<\/a> of the S&P 500\u2019s year-to-gains as of June.<\/p>\n Such stock market concentration means it\u2019s harder than ever to find stocks that are beating the overall market, underscoring the outsized role that certain individual stocks are playing. <\/p>\n The percentage of S&P 500 stocks that are outperforming the index has fallen to a record low, diving below 25%, according to Apollo Global Management<\/a>\u00a0chief economist Torsten Sl\u00f8k, who quipped in a note Thursday<\/a> that \u201cstock picking in the S&P 500 essentially boils down to whether you like tech or not.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/div>\n CEO Daily provides key context for the news leaders need to know from across the world of business. Every weekday morning, more than 125,000 readers trust CEO Daily for insights about\u2013and from inside\u2013the C-suite. Subscribe Now<\/a>.<\/div>\n<\/div>\nRecommended Newsletter<\/strong><\/p>\n