Info Tech was the most net bought sector last week – Goldman Sachs’ Prime Brokerage

[Electrical light trails passing between office buildings in the City of London finance district.]
Tim Robberts

Information Technology (NYSEARCA:XLK [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/XLK]), (VGT [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/VGT]) emerged as the most net bought sector both globally and in the U.S., according to Goldman Sachs’ Prime Brokerage, which services hedge funds.

Info tech was the most net bought sector in the U.S. this week in both notional and standard deviation terms, up 1.5 SDs. Prime analysts attributed the performance to a combination of long buys and short covers at a ratio of 1.5 to 1.

Within the sector, semiconductors (SMH [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/SMH]), (SOXX [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/SOXX]), (XSD [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/XSD]) and semiconductor equipment and IT services subsectors attracted the most capital, while tech hardware and communications equipment (IVRS [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/IVRS]) experienced the most significant selling pressure.

Goldman Sachs Prime analysts identified these distinctive trends among information technology (VGT [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/VGT]), (FTEC [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/FTEC]) subsectors, providing insight into where investors are currently placing their confidence.

This week’s strong performance continued a remarkable pattern for the sector, according to the analysis. “It’s worth noting that Info Tech was the most net bought sector both globally and in the US in 4 of the past 5 weeks,” the strategist highlighted, underscoring the consistent investor appetite for technology stocks.

Current exposure metrics further reinforce this bullish sentiment toward information technology.

Prime coverage showed that information technology gross/net exposures, as a percentage of the total U.S. Prime book, are at or near one-year highs in the 100th/97th percentile, with three-year metrics placing them in the 100th/60th percentile, demonstrating both recent strength and longer-term significance in investor positioning.

[Prime Book: Info Tech % of Total US Exposure]
Prime Book: Info Tech % of Total US Exposure (Goldman Sachs Global Banking & Markets)

MORE ON THE TECHNOLOGY SELECT SECTOR SPDR® FUND ETF:

* U.S. Stocks Sector Divergence Raises Red Flags [https://seekingalpha.com/article/4828924-us-stocks-sector-divergence-raises-red-flags]
* Hold XLK, Buy VGT: How To Stay In Tech Without Being Dependent On 3 Ticker Symbols [https://seekingalpha.com/article/4825213-hold-xlk-buy-vgt-how-to-stay-in-tech-without-being-dependent-on-3-ticker-symbols]
* XLK: No Reason To Sell A Stake In Tech, More Gains Are Ahead [https://seekingalpha.com/article/4820550-xlk-no-reason-to-sell-a-stake-in-tech-more-gains-are-ahead]
* Weekly tech check: AI deals drive gains for AMD and Dell, while trade tensions weigh on memory stocks [https://seekingalpha.com/news/4503426-weekly-tech-check-ai-deals-drive-gains-for-amd-and-dell-while-trade-tensions-weigh-on-memory-stocks]
* UAE, Singapore lead AI adoption while U.S. lags despite dominance in innovation [https://seekingalpha.com/news/4502871-uae-singapore-lead-ai-adoption-while-us-lags-despite-dominance-in-innovation]