Hedge funds bet against U.S. stocks and turn to Europe, Goldman Sachs says

By Nell Mackenzie

LONDON, March 23 (Reuters) – Hedge funds last week piled into bets against U.S. shares and emerging markets stocks in Asia, while wagering that European shares would rise, said a Goldman Sachs note to clients seen by Reuters on Monday.

Global stocks selling reached new highs last week, the largest net selling since April 2025 as speculators shorted equities for the fifth straight week, the note from Friday showed.

A short position makes money when prices fall.

Global shares slumped for a third week in a row last week, while bond yields climbed on fears the Iran war would keep upward pressure on oil prices and spark inflation.

* Index tracking products, like ETFs, as well as singlestocks were both net sold, said Goldman. * Most global sectors were on balance more sold than bought,said Goldman, led by consumer discretionary, tech, andfinancials. * Consumer staples, which people need week-to-week, andenergy stocks were the only stock sectors where hedge funds heldlong positions, betting that prices would rise. * Hedge funds ditched long positions and added shorts inemerging markets Asia, said the bank. * Hedge fund stock pickers posted a 0.47% rise inperformance between March 13 and March 19, many reaping profitfrom their long bets said Goldman. * Stock pickers have lost 3.85% so far in March, but remainup 0.16% for the year to date. * Systematic stock traders made money on short bets and areup just over 6% for the year. * Gross leverage, an indication of how much hedge funds aretrading, declined to 309.8% for the week, it said.

(Reporting by Nell Mackenzie; Editing by Dhara Ranasinghe)