Goldman Sachs: Hedge funds aggressively buy on the dip as US stocks plummet on Monday

According to the latest brokerage data from Goldman Sachs, amidst the "Black Monday" in the global markets this Monday, there was a moderate net inflow of funds into the global stock markets, with long positions exceeding short positions.

By region, hedge funds bought on dips during the US stock market plunge, notably, North America was the only region globally to experience a net inflow, while all other regions saw net outflows, albeit relatively mild in nominal terms.

The buying in the US stock market came from individual stocks, with hedge funds' net buying of individual stocks being the largest in about 5 months, primarily driven by long positions, with less fund flow from short positions.

In terms of industries, out of the 11 industries in the US stock market, 8 industries saw net buying, led by information technology + defensive stocks, where defensive stocks include healthcare, essentials, utilities, while consumer goods, real estate, and finance saw net selling.

Information technology stocks saw the largest net buying day since mid-June, driven by both long positions and short covering. On Monday, almost all tech sub-industries received net inflows, with semiconductors, semiconductor equipment, and software seeing the largest buying. However, the tech hardware sub-industry did not see net buying.

Despite hedge funds heavily buying into information technology stocks on Monday, the current long/short ratio for the US information technology sector stands at 1.81, close to the 1-year and 5-year lows. Specifically, the ratio is currently in the 3rd percentile, indicating it is lower than 97% of all values recorded within these two time periods, thus requiring more buying to catch up to the average level.

Looking at Goldman Sachs' brokerage client situation, their holdings in the information technology sector are 12.6% lower than the S&P 500, still one of the lightest positions in over a decade.

Apart from the US, other regions did not experience this hedge fund favoritism. Despite the sharp drop in the Japanese stock market on Monday, with the Nikkei index plummeting by 12%, Japanese stocks still saw slight net selling, with fund flows orderly, slightly more short selling than long buying, and macro product net selling largely offset by net buying of individual stocks.

Data released by Goldman Sachs yesterday showed that hedge funds have been net selling US stocks for eight consecutive weeks, with index and ETF net sales driven by short selling.

Financial blog Zerohedge mentioned that looking at recent hedge fund performance indicators, there are some noteworthy points: while fundamental funds suffered heavy losses last week, bringing their performance back to March levels, systematic funds were largely unaffected by the big drop. Additionally, after experiencing several days of market turmoil, hedge funds reduced their position exposures, as expected.

Based on the latest data from Goldman Sachs, hedge funds do not seem overly concerned about the fundamental factors that led to the recent market plunge, which is contrary to the warnings from Wall Street banks. For example, Bank of America advised investors to decisively sell their assets when the Fed first cuts interest rates, believing that the market's expectations for rate cuts are too optimistic, and that the first rate cut by the Fed will lead to a "tougher landing"JP Morgan warns investors not to catch falling knives, stating that going against the trend is unwise.

On Tuesday, the US stock market saw a strong rebound, with the S&P 500 index rising over 2% intraday. The technology, real estate, financial, industrial, and telecommunications sectors all rose over 2%