Hedge Funds Brave Stock Chaos to Lift Bets by Most in Five Years
- Total gross trading flow up for fifth week, Goldman data show
- Willingness to raise exposure is departure from June’s selloff
This article is for subscribers only.
Professional speculators are refusing to surrender to a punishing stock market prone to choppy trends and endless volatility -- boosting bullish and bearish positions at the fastest rate in five years.
As the S&P 500 plunged almost 5% last week after a surprisingly hot inflation reading, hedge funds snapped up single stocks while betting against the broad market with products like exchange-traded funds, data from Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s prime brokerage show. Taking their long and short exposures together, the total gross trading flow rose for a fifth straight week in the largest notional increase since 2017.