STORY CONTINUES BELOW THESE SALTWIRE VIDEOSLONDON - The world's five biggest hedge funds have doubled their footprint in the U.S. stock market through leverage and trading positions since 2014, according to a Goldman Sachs note to clients seen by Reuters.
Although their portion of the total hedge fund industry's assets under management is only 9%, their impact in the market is much larger because of the higher levels of leverage or borrowing they use, said the note. The U.S. stock market was worth about $46 trillion as of the end of July, according to the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association.The size of the assets held by the biggest hedge funds also outstripped the rest of the industry, growing by 21% in the last 12 months versus 9% for the rest of the hedge fund industry, the note said.