Balyasny: HFT, Activists Partially To Blame For Tech Decline

In January Balyasny Asset Management Managing Partner and Chief Investment Officer Dmitry Balyasny looked at the market with a degree of concern.  Instructing his portfolio managers to “remain nimble and focus on high beta momentum shorts if the market rolls over,” he noted a prime broker report that showed net long / short positioning among hedge funds near 74% -- an all time high in long exposure – and a high correlation to the S&P at 0.9.  His portfolio managers positioned their holdings to manage the downturn, to various degrees, and as of the end of March was up 5.87% while the stock market in general was up just over 1%.  In a conference call and investor letter, Balyasny...