The latest Commitments of Traders data was released, covering positions through Tuesday
The odd behavior of "smart money" hedgers in equities continues. Yet again this week, they increased their record net long exposure to the major equity index futures, now holding more than $47 billion worth of contracts. Over the past 10 years, this has been phenomenally bullish for stocks. The biggest caveats are that it didn't work prior to 2010, and it's odd that they keep buying, hinting that something is different. The other times they did this over the past decade, they were selling as stocks rose, which is normal. They weren't in a hurry during the initial rally in 2019, so that's a kinda-sorta precedent, but it's getting to the point where it's so odd it's a little unnerving. The only other extreme of note is in corn, where they're holding the most net long contracts since 2014. They still haven't established a compelling extreme in the broader agriculture complex though.