-- Hedge funds are turning increasingly defensive as uncertainty around geopolitics and the path of interest rates, as well as the stock market’s April swoon, has investing pros spooked.Positioning data shows that hedge fund added defensive equity positions to their portfolio in April at the fastest pace in eight months, while still being net sellers of global stocks, according to figures compiled by Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s prime brokerage desk. That snaps a four-month streak of buying.
Defensive sectors have been the worst performers in the S&P 500 over the last 12 months, with utilities, consumer staples and health care stocks among the equity benchmark’s biggest laggards. But with the Federal Reserve seemingly likely to keep interest rates higher for longer, the worst performing equity sectors can be the biggest beneficiaries, according to data tracked by Evercore ISI going back to the 1970s.