The chase is on/Earnings commentary/Other

The end of year stock market chase is on according to Goldman Sachs in a story yesterday from BN. BN reported that "Hedge funds are holding their most concentrated wagers on US equities than anytime in the past 22 years, according to data from Goldman Sachs. An index created by the investment bank to track crowding across hedge funds has reached a record high, according to a report published on Monday, which said the average fund holds 70% of its long portfolio in its top 10 positions. The most popular bets remain in megacap tech, with Microsoft, Amazon and Meta Platforms in Goldman's list of 'Hedge Fund VIPs' this quarter. A group of 7 tech companies account for about 13% of the average hedge fund long portfolio, twice the weighting from the start of 2023, Goldman's analysis show."

With not much macro this morning, we'll go thru the micro from mostly retail companies and hear what they said about the macro. 

From Best Buy: 

"we are reporting a comparable sales decline of 6.9%, which is slightly below our outlook for the quarter, as consumer demand softened through the quarter."

"The sales pressure is due to many factors, including the pandemic pull forward of tech purchases, the shift back into services outside the home like travel and entertainment and inflation. In the more recent macro environment, consumer demand has been even more uneven and difficult to predict. Based on the sales trends in Q3 and so far in November, we believe it is prudent to lower our revenue outlook for Q4."