By Carolina Mandl
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Global hedge funds built bearish positions this week to the highest level in nearly five years, Goldman Sachs said on Friday, without citing the underlying reasons.
“Financials was the most net sold sector on the U.S.
prime book this week and saw the largest net selling in seven weeks, driven entirely by short sales,” the bank’s prime insights & analytics team said in a note about trading flows.
The ratio between long and short positions is at a historical low, below 1.7 times. At the beginning of this year, the long/short ratio was at 2.6 times, sharply declining in March in the wake of the regional banking crisis.
Overall, hedge funds are underweight financials, at the lowest level since May 2020, Goldman Sachs said.
Bank shares have plunged this year. The KBW Bank index is down nearly 23% year to date, while the S&P 500 Banks index fell over 11.26%.
(Reporting by Carolina Mandl in New York; Editing by Richard Chang)