Investors bought $6.7 billion of stocks in last week's Omicron dip, the highest inflow in 4 years, according to Bank of America

• Bank of America said Tuesday investors poured $6.7 billion into US stocks during last week's slide.
• That amount marked the highest inflows since 2017, with institutions, hedge funds and private clients piling in.

Investors took advantage of a recent sell-off in stocks sparked by the emergence of the Omicron coronavirus variant by pushing nearly $7 billion into the market, moves that amounted to the largest inflows in four years, Bank of America said Tuesday.

The investment bank tallied its clients dip-buying in stocks and exchange-traded funds at $6.7 billion, the highest inflow since 2017. As a percentage of US market capitalization, the buying marked the largest since December 2020.

The S&P 500 dropped 1.2% last week on reports that a new, heavily mutated strain of coronavirus was detected in South Africa. The news sparked worries that health and law officials worldwide would order new lockdowns at businesses and schools, potentially derailing the global economic and financial recovery.

BofA said investors purchased stocks in eight of the S&P 500's 11 sectors, led by tech, allowing that group to mark its first inflows since early October. Investors also shelled out for consumer discretionary and financial stocks and continued buying energy issues during the drop in oil prices.

The defensive health care and utility groups, however, were out of favor, with each sector logging outflows.

Institutional clients led last week's net buying and inflows from private clients were the largest since February, the bank said.

The S&P 500 has been in rebound mode since last week's slump, with Tuesday's session bringing in gains of more than 2% intraday. The benchmark was pushing again toward a 25% advance on a year-to-date basis.