According to a recent article in The Wall Street Journal, short-selling is on the rise again. Despite news of economic recovery and the stabilization of equity markets in the past few months some investors are betting that the markets would fall.
From the article:
Short selling rose at the New York Stock Exchange and at the Nasdaq Stock Market during the second half of March.
In the exchanges’ latest twice-a-month statistics, for the period ended March 31, the number of short-selling positions at the NYSE not yet closed out, known as short interest, increased 0.85%. The positions stood at 12,643,943,208 shares from a revised 12,537,409,289 shares in the period ended March 15.
On Nasdaq, short interest increased 1.60% to 6,668,223,829 shares from 6,563,218,369 shares over the same period.
12 Companies with the biggest short positions are noted below. It msut be noted that among the stocks listed SPY, IWM and XLF are ETFs.
1.Citigroup(C)
Shares shorted = 372 million
% of float = 1.3
Days to cover = 1
2.SPDR S&P 500 (SPY)
Shares shorted = 308 million
% % of float = N/A
Days to cover = 2
3.Sirius XM Radio (SIRI)
Shares shorted = 265 million
% of float = 7.0
Days to cover = 6
4.iShares Russell 2000 (IWM)
Shares shorted = 229 million
% of float = N/A
Days to cover = 4
5.Ford Motor (F)
Shares shorted = 153 million
% of float = 4.1
Days to cover = N/A
6.SPDR Select Sector Fund – Financial (XLF)
Shares shorted = 95 million
% of float = N/A
Days to cover = 1
7.Sprint Nextel (S)
Shares shorted = 94 million
% of float = 3.2
Days to cover = 1
8.PowerShares QQQ Trust Series 1 (QQQ)
Shares shorted = 91 million
% of float = 22
Days to cover = 1
9.Level 3 Communications(LLL)
Shares shorted = 89 million
% of float = 5.5
Days to cover = 5
10.Synovus Financial (SNV)
Shares shorted = 84 million
% of float = 10.9
Days to cover = 15
11.Microsoft (MSFT)
Shares shorted = 82 million
% of float = 1.1
Days to cover = 1
12.Nokia (NOK)
Shares shorted = 81 million
% of float = N/A
Days to cover = 4
Source: The Wall Street Journal
The complete list of short positions by exchange can be found in the Journal’s Mart Data Center page here.
Disclosure: No positions
