By Carolina Mandl
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Global hedge funds this week bought U.S. information technology stocks such as semiconductors and hardware at the fastest pace in five months amid the start of the third-quarter earnings season, according to Goldman Sachs. on Friday.
Outside the US, divergent reports from chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing and chip manufacturing equipment supplier ASML Holding (AS moved shares in opposite directions as investors expect semiconductor companies such as Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ and Nvidia (NASDAQ reveal their earnings. while looking for a trend.
Goldman Sachs' main brokerage unit, which provides services to hedge funds and tracks their positioning, said portfolio managers were net buying U.S. information technology stocks for the third straight week. Hedge funds covered short positions (betting the stock will fall) and took long positions.
The bank said the only information technology subsector hedge funds sold was software.
Overall, information technology accounts for 16.1% of hedge fund exposure in the United States, up from about 22% earlier this year.
Elsewhere, hedge funds sold stocks in U.S. consumer sectors from food products to beverages and restaurants for the fifth straight week, the bank said.
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