State whether you agree or disagree with the following statement. Explain why.

Given: A mutual fund invests in equities. The fund manager expects a large contribution by an institutional investor. He also expects stock prices to increase significantly before the money is received and could be invested.

Statement: The manager should consider selling (as opposed to buying) stock index futures to benefit from the anticipated appreciation in the stock prices.

(Note: The manager is only considering buying or selling stock index futures. He is not considering other ways to hedge the portfolio.)