African American businessman showing an infographic to an unseen colleague who is also holding an infographic at a board meeting at a conference table.
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According to Goldman Sachs, hedge funds suffered on a historic scale as AI momentum slowed in July.
“The most popular long-position hedge fund VIP list suffered its worst one-month underperformance relative to the S&P 500 in more than 20 years, making July one of the sharpest episodes of hedge fund return decline in the past decade,” Goldman strategists led by Ben Snyder said in a statement. “The fund has reduced positions in a number of AI stocks, including many semiconductors and most large-cap stocks,” it added.
Hedge funds have also begun diversifying away from artificial intelligence this past quarter, with portfolio turnover at its highest since 2021, according to Goldman Sachs.
“Hedge fund performance, leverage, and most popular long positions have fluctuated sharply over the past few months in line with AI trading,” Goldman said.
Goldman said hedge fund congestion reached record levels as the market was buoyed by popular AI stocks and hedge funds posted strong gains in the second quarter. The paper noted that tech accounted for 14 of the 20 so-called “rising stars” that saw the biggest rise in hedge fund popularity last quarter.
That said, hedge funds’ gross leverage, net leverage and AI exposure, while down from their second-quarter highs, are still above their long-term averages, according to Goldman.
“Despite the volatility, U.S. equity long/short hedge funds returned 10% through mid-August.”
