Quants, ETFs and Overweight Funds Hang Over Stocks on U.K. Vote

  • Brexit decision to spur systematic selling in funds: Kolanovic
  • UBS predicted $150 billion in automated sales following vote

Brexit Uncertainty to Have Economic Impact, Says Juckes

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One way to assess how much pain looms for global stocks post-Brexit is to figure out who needs to sell. Strategists analyzing fund flows say that includes computer traders, exchange-traded funds and individuals who piled into European stocks expecting a different outcome.

Britain’s departure from the European Union will unleash as much as $300 billion of selling by automated quant programs in the already-battered U.S. stock market, according to Marko Kolanovic, the JPMorgan Chase & Co. derivatives strategist. His colleague Nikolaos Panigirtzoglou looked at ETF and government data and concluded that U.S. investors own a lot more European stock than they did during the sovereign debt crisis four years ago.