Goldman Sachs stated that investors' position-taking strategies are becoming increasingly defensive. A weakening risk appetite and a decline in the net leverage of hedge funds have led to funds moving away from momentum stocks and cyclical stocks and turning towards safe-haven assets, collectively driving this change.

A team led by Christian Mueller-Grissmann pointed out that with the increase in bond funds inflows, the rise in hedging positions, and the rotation of stock market funds to defensive sectors, Goldman Sachs' sentiment and position indicators have fallen to the 46th percentile, the lowest level since April.

Quantitative investors such as commodity trading advisors and risk parity funds continue to maintain short positions in risky assets.

The team stated that momentum exchange-traded funds are estimated to have seen a net outflow of $5.1 billion in September, which is one of the largest monthly capital withdrawals in recent years; the scale of leveraged technology ETF has further shrunk.

The flow of funds in the market is favorable for the telecommunications, public utilities, and infrastructure sectors, while the financial and industrial sectors experience the largest outflows of capital.

However, the team stated that there is a clear differentiation in volatility among various assets, with bond volatility increasing significantly more than stock volatility; whether it's funds focusing on the U.S. or Western European markets, the scale of bond capital flows exceeds that of stocks.

The report indicates that holdings of traditional safe-haven assets such as gold and the Japanese yen have also increased.