(Bloomberg) Didn’t think this year could get any worse for hedge fund managers? Guess again.
As if posting their worst start to a year and suffering the biggest crush of outflows since the financial crisis wasn’t enough, hedge fund managers are now watching the S&P 500 Index close in on its record at a time when they’ve been unloading stocks.
As a class, the speculators reduced bets on equities by 8.7 percent going into the second quarter, the biggest retreat from the stock market in five years, according to Bank of America Corp. At the same time, they added short positions — a call that remains profitable on the year but is losing steam as more companies join the three-week rally in shares.
