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Hedge Funds Lead the Selloff

August 9, 2011

While individual investors have received warning not to sell into the market plunge, hedge funds have been doing just that.  The funds were dumping shares and debt issues, thereby adding to the downdraft.  Stocks popular with hedge funds - including BofA, Goodyear, Dendreon, Ensco - all fell more than the general market indices on Monday.  Funds also also sold junk bonds and debt. 

For the first 6 trading sessions in August, a basket of stocks representing major positions of hedge funds is down 17.3% - compared with a 13.4% drop for the S&P 500.  Stocks with limited hedge fund exposure are down only 11%.

Besides the fact that hedge funds typically unload their positions faster than, say mutual funds, another factor cited by some managers is that hedge funds may have needed to raise extra cash to satisfy withdrawal requests - following the mid-year withdrawal notice deadline.  [WSJournal, 8/9/11]