Shorts Sellers Look For Sharp Sell-Off In Financials (WM)(WFC)(WB)(FNM)(AIG)

Short sellers sharply increased their bets against big US banks based on data from the NYSE as of May 30. The number compare with those onMay 15.

Short interest in Washington Mutual (WM) was up 12.2 million shares to 204.9 million. Shares short in Wells Fargo (WFC) rose 29.3 million to 153.1 million. Short interest in Wachovia (WB) rocketed 30.5 million shares to 151 million., The short position against Fannie Mae (FNM) moved up 24.8 million to 129 million. Shares short in Lehman (LEH) moved up 2.1 million to 76.1 million. Short interest in AIG (AIG) jumped 11.4 million to 54.8 million.

Short sellers also made increasing bets against car companies. Shares short in GM (GM) moved up 4.7 million to 105.2 million. Ford’s (F) short interest, the largest of any company on the NYSE, jumped 6.1 million to 286.4 million.

Short sellers also gambled that GE (GE) shares would fall, increasing their position by 11 million shares to 68.7 million. Shares short in airline AMR (AMR) moved up 10.7 million to 52.5 million.

Short sellers moved out of Sprint (S), selling down 4.9 million shares to leave 78.8 million. Shorts also exited Motorola (MOT), dropping their interest by 3.4 million shares to 45.4 million.

Data from NYSE

Douglas A. McIntyre