GS Saboureault Positioning Mondays Week 38 21Sep2026

GS Saboureault - Positioning Mondays Week 38 21 Sep 2026 Pierre Saboureault · Goldman Sachs · Vice President, FICC & Equities (Europe Sales) Mon 21 Sep 2026, 7:14am ET

What stands out : 1) Too short. US equities saw the largest net buying in five weeks, and European equities saw the largest net buying in five months, last week, according to our PB stats ; 2) Too lean. CTAs have now sold $47bn of global equities over the past month, including $38bn over the past week. Our models predict that post a small overshoot to the downside short-term, CTAs will flip to buyers over a one-month horizon ; 3) Too cautious. Net flows into global equity funds saw a meaningful pickup in last week (+$80bn) after several weeks of more subdued inflows ; 4) Too bearish. Our GS SI is at its lowest in over a year, and the AAII Bear survey points to highest level of bearishness (53%) in 16 months. As per Rich Privorotsky : “Experience says stay optimistic when everyone has the same list of things to worry about” ; 5) Too late ? CFTC data and anecdotal evidence from our floor concur : Long Onlys have continued to trim exposure and are yet to reengage. All eyes on Trump/Xi summit this week.

HEDGE FUNDS - Prime Brokerage:

- Global : Overall book Gross leverage +4.6 pts to 309.2% (65th percentile 1-year) and Net leverage +0.7 pts to 77.5% (34th percentile 1-year). Overall book L/S ratio -0.3% to 1.670 (25th percentile 1-year). Fundamental L/S Gross leverage +2.7 pts to 207.7% (30th percentile 1-year) and Net leverage +0.1 pts to 56.4% (65th percentile 1-year).

Global equities were net bought (+0.5 SDs 1-year), as gross trading activity continued to increase driven by long buys outpacing short sales (3.9 to 1). Regional flows were split, as buying in North America and Europe outpaced selling in Asia (EM + DM). Macro Products were net bought, driven by long buys and short covers, while Single Stocks were modestly net sold, as short sales slightly outpaced long buys. Comm Svcs, Cons Disc, and Industrials were the most $ net bought sectors this week, while Health Care, Energy, and Info Tech were the most net sold.

- Europe : European equities were net bought at the fastest pace in 5 months, driven by short covers and to a lesser extent long buys (1.9 to 1). Germany, France, and Ireland were the most $ net bought markets on the week, all driven by short covers and long buys. Macro Products (long buys + short covers) and Single Stocks (short covers) were both net bought and made up 63% and 37% of the total $ net buying, respectively.

7 of 11 sectors were net bought, led in $ terms by Industrials (short covers), Info Tech (long buys + short covers), and Cons Disc (long buys), while Energy (short + long sales), Financials (long sales), and Staples (long sales) were the most net sold.

Gross/Net allocations to Europe (as a % of the global Prime Book) now stand at 17.4%/15.8%, which rank in the 63rd/14th percentiles vs. the past year and in the 58th/3rd percentiles vs. the past five years.

Source for all charts: Goldman Sachs FICC and Equities and Prime Services data as of 18-Sep-26. Past performance is not indicative of future results. All references to “we/us/our” refer to the views and observations of the desk unless specified otherwise.