Jefferies Chief Market Strategist David Zervos told Closing Bell Overtime that equity and bond markets have largely shrugged off recent Department of Justice inquiries into Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s conduct. Zervos highlighted that implied volatility indices across U.S. equity sectors remain near multi–month lows and Treasury yields have traded within a 20 basis-point range over the past three weeks. He emphasized that institutional order flows, particularly from pension funds and defined-contribution plans, have continued to favor risk-weighted allocations with net inflows of $4.2 billion into domestic equities in the first two trading weeks of January. According to Jefferies’ proprietary positioning data, short interest in major financial names is down by 15% since December, signaling reduced hedging costs and sustained bullish sentiment among hedge funds.

In its latest 13F filing, Cerity Partners LLC trimmed its position in Jefferies Financial Group by 6.0%, selling 13,973 shares to end the third quarter with 217,535 shares valued at $14.23 million. The divestiture lowered Cerity’s ownership to approximately 0.11% of the company’s outstanding shares. Other institutional moves included EverSource Wealth Advisors boosting its stake by 159.3% to 892 shares, Bessemer Group raising holdings by 48.8% to 912 shares, and Hantz Financial Services expanding by 3,577.8% to 993 shares. Tripletail Wealth Management initiated a new position worth about $69,000, while BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S increased its stake by 28.7% to 1,872 shares. Collectively, institutional and hedge fund ownership stands at 60.88% of the share base, underscoring continued professional interest despite recent portfolio reallocations.