In the two months since hedge funds began bailing on their record net short position in S&P 500 futures their equity returns have accelerated, narrowing the yawning year-to-date underperformance versus the broader market.
Against that backdrop, perhaps not, although the weekly momentum on funds' S&P 500 futures positioning is the most bullish since December 2021.
Reuters ImageReuters ImageReuters ImageThe latest CFTC figures show that hedge funds' net short position in e-mini S&P 500 futures at the end of July was around 200,000 contracts, the smallest net short since March.
Just two months ago, at the end of May, funds were net short to the tune of 434,000 contracts, the largest net short position on record since these contracts were launched in 1997.
If equity strategy-based hedge funds are slowly turning their poor 2023 performance around, their macro fund peers continue to struggle.
Persons:
Brendan McDermid, Jamie McGeever, Jonathan Oatis
Organizations:
New York Stock Exchange, REUTERS, HFRI, Futures, Reuters, CFTC, ICE, Thomson
Locations:
New York City, U.S, ORLANDO, Florida