Hedge Funds Sit Out Rally With Bets on Stock Gains Near 2009 Low

`` Rallying stocks have done little to entice professional money managers back to U.S. equities. A gauge of hedge-fund bullishness measuring the proportion of bets that shares will rise climbed to 44.5 last week from 43.9 at the end of 2011, holding close to the lowest level since 2009, according to International Strategy & Investment Group. Compared with the price of the Standard & Poor's 500 Index, managers' so-called net exposure is close to the lowest since June 2008, the ISI data show.''