The writing was kind of on the wall at the end of March. S&P 500 Index was near the 4600 level whereas inflation rate was close to 8% and the 10-year Treasury yield jumped to 2.7%. The probability of further increases in interest rates and sharp declines in the stock market was much larger than the probability of further gains in stock prices. So, we started telling our premium subscribers to short the market at the end of March. Most hedge funds interpreted the macro developments the same way we did and reduced their exposure. The total value of stock holdings in hedge funds’ portfolios went down from $3.1 trillion at the end of December to $2.8 trillion at the end of March.
This isn’t a terribly large reduction in market exposure, but it is still a reduction. It still shows that hedge funds have a slight edge in market timing.
Insider Monkey has long been a believer of imitating the top stock picks of hedge funds, and this approach has helped us beat the market on average over the last several years.
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