Hedge funds returned aggressively to U.S. stocks last week, buying equities in every trading session and recording their second-largest weekly purchase of American equities over the past 12 months, as technology demand drove strong 2026 inflows. Goldman Sachs Prime Brokerage data, highlighted by The Kobeissi Letter, showed the scale of the renewed buying. Prime brokerage figures like these are published weekly, making them one of the timeliest reads on hedge fund positioning available to the public, in contrast to quarterly 13F filings, which reveal long U.S. equity positions only after a lag of up to 45 days. The data cover hedge fund clients of Goldman's prime brokerage unit, one of the largest such operations on Wall Street.

BREAKING: Hedge funds purchased US equities in every trading session last week.

In total, this marked their 2nd-largest weekly purchase over the last 12 months.

Single stocks accounted for ~70% of the total, driven primarily by long equity purchases and, to a lesser extent,… pic.twitter.com/4bollwboeE

— The Kobeissi Letter (@KobeissiLetter) August 18, 2026

The buying concentrated heavily in individual companies rather than broad market exposure, indicating that managers were rebuilding positions through selected stocks instead of index bets. Single stocks represented roughly 70% of total U.S. net purchases, while macro products, including index futures and ETFs, accounted for the remaining 30%.

Most single-stock demand came from new long positions, although short covering also contributed to the increase in exposure. Information technology and communication services attracted the strongest purchases, while eight of the 11 major U.S. sectors recorded net buying. Meanwhile, short positions in U.S.-listed ETFs declined for a sixth consecutive week as managers reduced defensive positioning.

Tech Buying Rebounds After July's Record Hedge Fund Selloff

The renewed demand marked a sharp reversal from July, when Goldman reported the largest cumulative technology-sector selling recorded in its dataset. That earlier retreat followed an aggressive reduction in positions accumulated after the April market lows, and by mid-July Goldman said managers had sold roughly 75% of the global equities purchased after those lows before earnings season began.

Vincent Lin, co-head of Prime Insights and Analytics at Goldman, described the reduction as a crowded-position reset rather than an abandonment of artificial intelligence exposure. The lighter positioning gave managers greater capacity to rebuild technology holdings once earnings results and broader market conditions improved.

The renewed appetite coincided with another positive week on Wall Street, further supporting the return of institutional buying. During the week ended August 14, the S&P 500 gained 0.4% while the Nasdaq Composite advanced 0.1%, giving both indexes their third consecutive weekly gains. The S&P 500 also reached a record closing high of 7,798.99 on August 13.

Stronger technology demand was not limited to hedge funds. State Street custody data showed that demand for U.S. information-technology stocks had climbed to a five-year high over the previous month, while corporate earnings provided additional support: roughly 85% of S&P 500 companies that had reported second-quarter results by mid-August exceeded earnings estimates, according to Reuters.

Hedge Fund Assets Rise as Stock Exposure Trails Early 2026 Levels

Hedge funds also entered the rebound with considerably more capital available for deployment. HFR reported that global hedge fund assets increased by a record $409.3 billion during the second quarter, reaching $5.6 trillion. Performance gains contributed $364 billion of that increase, while estimated net investor inflows added another $45.2 billion.

The additional capital has not yet pushed equity positioning back to early-2026 levels. Goldman's chart showed that cumulative single-stock trading flows remained below where they started the year, meaning the latest wave of buying represents a significant rebuilding of exposure rather than a return to peak positioning.

That renewed appetite for risk quickly faced a market test. On August 18, the S&P 500 fell 0.67% while the Nasdaq dropped 1.31%, as rising Treasury yields and renewed semiconductor selling weighed on growth stocks, reversing some of the conditions that had supported the previous week's technology-led advance.

Nevertheless, the latest positioning data showed that hedge funds had moved decisively back into U.S. stocks before Tuesday's decline. Technology remained at the center of that renewed exposure, marking a clear reversal from the sector's heavy selling earlier in the summer. The coming weekly prime brokerage reports will show whether managers kept adding U.S. equity exposure after yields rose, or whether the buying streak that spanned every session of the prior week paused in the face of the pullback.