US stocks rose on Friday - largely thanks to a last 20-minute meltup - though SPX fell -0.5% on the week (+4.8% in May), as investors digested mixed US economic data (plunge in Chicago PMI, dovish core PCE print) against renewed concerns of stickier inflation pressuring valuation multiples. This follows a week when, as we reported last weekend, Goldman Prime Brokerage said that hedge funds had turned "unequivocally more cautious" and sold stocks at the fastest pace since January, as if sensing that the meltup trade was on its last fumes.
And since there were no major macro or micro changes, what was perhaps most remarkable about the latest weekly flows is that as Goldman writes in its latest Weekly Rundown, while overall selling eased off somewhat, Tech stocks saw the largest net selling in 11 weeks, led by Software stocks, as Software net exposure ended the week at the lowest level in 5+ years. Meanwhile, in what may be a bigger looming concern, Goldman warns that as US equities sold off this week, selling forecasts in our CTA model have begun to surface.
Looking at the bigger picture reveals that the Most Short, CRE Exposed, and Value baskets while Growth Software, Bitcoin Sensitive Equities, and AI Enablers were among the biggest losers.
