Goldman Sachs: Hedge funds continue to sell global stocks for the ninth consecutive week, financial sector stocks are getting popular.

A report from Goldman Sachs shows that banks, insurance companies, and trading firms are back in favor with hedge funds, with these funds aggressively buying up the stocks of these companies at the fastest pace since June 2023. The report released last Friday showed that financial stocks, which had been net sellers in seven out of the past eight weeks, became the most popular stocks for Goldman Sachs' institutional brokerage trading department. The department provides loans to hedge funds and tracks their trades. The report stated that these bets are almost all long positions. In the week ending last Friday, the pan-European Stoxx 600 banks index rose by about 1.9%, while the Dow Jones banks index fell by 1.6%. The report noted that hedge fund buying was mainly concentrated in North America and Europe. Hedge funds held long positions in banks, insurance, and capital market companies that facilitate trading. Goldman Sachs also mentioned that they moderately sold stocks of consumer finance companies and mortgage trust companies. The report added that overall, hedge funds increased their short positions in the stock market by the end of last week. They sold global stocks for the ninth consecutive week, at the fastest pace in five months. The bank stated that the weekly return for stock-picking hedge funds was 0.42%, partially due to the general rise in stock markets. Last week, the S&P 500 index rose by over 4%, while the broadest European stock index rose by 1.85%. The report stated that in the week ending September 13, the yield for systematic stock traders was -0.18%.