(Bloomberg) As stocks whipsawed over the past week, hedge funds took a stance that’s hard to frame as bullish, intensifying bets against the market and limited long positions to a shrinking group of companies. The ratio of hedge funds’ long to short positions, known as net leverage, sank to the lowest level since February 2016, data compiled by Morgan Stanley’s prime brokerage unit showed. At the same time, gross leverage, a gauge of risk appetite that adds up both long and short positions, remained above the 75th percentile since 2010.

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