Everyone just piled into stocks at their fastest pace in years

Investors piled into stocks at a record pace last week.

According to Bank of America Merrill Lynch, the firm's equity clients moved money into stocks at the fastest pace since at least 2008 during a week that saw markets crater to start the week but ultimately finish in the green.

The firm's clients were net buyers of $5.6 billion of US stocks, though BAML noted that no single client group - which covers hedge funds, institutional investors, private investors, and corporations - saw a record flow relative to its own history.

Among the drivers of the record inflows to stocks was corporate buybacks, which were executed at their fastest pace in 18 months last week. BAML noted that the inflows were almost entirely driven by large cap stocks.

Consistent with the volatility seen in the markets, BAML's weekly flows data looks starkly different from what the firm published just a few days before Tuesday's report.

Last Thursday, BAML noted that on a daily basis, flows out of stocks hit their fastest pace since 2007. Weekly flows to that point were also the fastest on record.

And so as the market reversed, so did BAML's clients' behavior. Chicken. Egg.

Here's the chart.

BAML

On Tuesday, stocks were selling off again after finishing lower on Monday.