What Rally? Goldman Prime Finds Hedge Funds Shorted Stocks For A Record 15th Consecutive Week

Late in the summer, Goldman's Prime Brokerage, the bank's most actionable client-facing division which keeps daily tabs on all the latest hedge fund activity and is happy to share the data with a select group of top clients, launched the US Equities Weekly Rundown: a weekly must-read compilation that aims to consolidate the latest positioning and flows intelligence, market themes, and actionable ideas from thought leaders and risk takers across the GS franchise. We find it an indispensable piece for every serious trader as it reveals what Goldman's own traders think and do (not its useless research desk), and below we excerpt from the latest full report for the benefit of our premium and professional readers (full analysis available to our pro subscribers in the usual place).

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The S&P 500 rose for a third straight week, finishing up +2% after an unexpected decline in CPI inflation, better than expected business sentiment, and a further move lower in 10-year Treasury yields. Liquid Regional Banks, Non-Profitable Tech, and Most Short Rolling were among the biggest gainers on the week, while Expensive Defensives, Megacap Tech, and Quality Compounders were among the worst performing.