Panic index skyrockets, hedge funds sell like crazy! Goldman Sachs trading desk warns: "U.S. stocks cannot be optimistic".

The S&P 500 index has been falling for five consecutive weeks, breaking through key technical levels. Goldman Sachs traders bluntly stated that "the data is not optimistic," but signals such as the exhaustion of systematic selling pressure, the emergence of pension fund buying at the end of the month, and record net short positions by CTA also indicate potential energy for a rebound. Goldman Sachs senior trader Cullen Morgan wrote in a weekend report, "Friday was one of the most uncomfortable trading days in recent memory." The S&P 500 index set a rare five-week consecutive decline record since 1970, surpassing even the impact of the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic and the 2025 "Liberation Day" sell-off. Goldman's U.S. stock volatility fear index recently reached a reading of 9.2 (out of 10), remaining in the "fear zone" (above 8.5) for 17 consecutive trading days, one of the longest continuous fear records in the past 15 years. At the same time, the index has broken through all key moving averages and technical support levels, including the CTA strategy selling threshold; the Nasdaq index has fallen more than 11% from its historical high, officially entering correction territory. Rare five-week decline in history Cullen Morgan pointed out that the S&P 500 index's five-week consecutive decline on the weekly chart has been "rare" since 1970, with the most recent occurrence during the recession panic period in 2022. It is worth noting that the collapse of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and the recent "Liberation Day" sell-off did not extend to the fifth week - this round of declines has already entered a historically rare period in terms of duration. Goldman conducted forward yield calculations on the above historical cases, with a conclusion that "is not encouraging." Morgan admitted that most of the charts tracked by Goldman have not yet sent clear oversold signals, but some indicators have begun to show signs of surrender. High levels of fear Several internal indicators from Goldman Sachs show that market fear levels are at historical extremes: Continuous net selling by hedge funds: Goldman's main brokerage weekly report shows that hedge funds have been net selling U.S. stocks for six consecutive weeks, with the recent net selling volume ranking as the third largest over the past decade, mainly due to reductions in long and short positions on individual stocks, while macro products' short positions have also contributed. Net leverage ratio hit near... (Translated text exceeds the limit, please refer to the original source for more information.)