Hedge funds turned net sellers of US stocks last week, selling more shares than they bought as the major US stock indexes turned negative following five straight weeks of gains, according to a report by Reuters.

The report cites a note from Bank of America as saying that the its trading data showed hedge funds offloaded around $2bn in US shares, which mainly concentrated on large-cap companies across all sectors except industrial.

The sell-off came during a week when the Nasdaq fell 1.34%, the S&P 500 declined 0.42% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.11%, on the back of higher inflation data than expected which dented hopes of early Federal Reserve interest rate cuts.

While institutional and retail investors have also been selling US stock so far this year, hedge funds lead having have now net sold some $3.8bn in shares in 2024, according to Bank of America.