- Hedge funds short US financial stocks at near record levels -Goldman Sachs

Global hedge funds have increased their bearish positions this week, reaching the highest level in almost five years, according to Goldman Sachs. The underlying reasons for this development were not specified by the bank. The prime book for the U.S. financial sector experienced the most net selling and saw the largest net selling in seven weeks, driven solely by short sales, as stated by the bank’s prime insights & analytics team. The long/short ratio, which is currently below 1.7 times, has reached a historical low. This ratio was at 2.6 times at the beginning of the year but sharply declined in March due to the regional banking crisis. Goldman Sachs reported that hedge funds are currently underweight financials, at the lowest level since May 2020. Bank shares have experienced significant declines this year, with the KBW Bank index down nearly 23% year to date and the S&P 500 Banks index falling over 11.26%. The article was reported by Carolina Mandl in New York and edited by Richard Chang. The Thomson RushHourDaily Trust Principles apply.