Goldman Sachs: AI Anxiety Sparks Sell-off Wave, Hedge Funds Record Short-selling of US Stocks.

As concerns about the disruption of business models by artificial intelligence continue to ferment in the market, hedge funds have significantly increased their short positions in American stocks. The bulk brokerage team at Goldman Sachs Group stated in a client report that the nominal scale of short selling of individual stocks hit a record high since the bank started collecting data in 2016. Citing fund flows from January 30 to February 5, the team said that the scale of short selling trades was twice that of long buys. Anxiety over how AI will reshape the economy sparked a tumultuous week on Wall Street. The combined market value of 164 stocks in the software, financial services, and asset management sectors evaporated by $611 billion last week. Overall, hedge funds have been net sellers of US stocks for the fourth consecutive week, with the selling pace hitting the fastest since the so-called "Liberation Day" in early April. The Goldman team pointed out that the information technology sector was the most severely sold-off area, with the net outflow reaching the second highest level in the past five years. Software stocks led the decline, accounting for about 75% of the net selling in that sector. Hedge funds' total net exposure to software stocks dropped to 2.6%, and the long/short ratio fell to 1.3 - both hitting historical lows.