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Short Sellers Move Back Into Banks, Tech

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By Douglas A. McIntyre Published
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Short sellers pushed back into banks and other financial firms during the period that ended on July 15. It may be that they sensed earnings would be weak. Or, that the recent financial reform legislation would hamper profits down the road. Concerns remain that write-offs for residential and commercial mortgages will rise. The banking sector, in short, has more potential risks that rewards.

Share sold short in Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC) rose 7% to 52.5 million. The short interest in Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) was up 8% to 104.5. Citigroup (NYSE: C) kept its place as the most shorted stock on US exchanges with a position of 449.8 million shares, up slightly from the June 30 figure.Short sellers also took larger positions in retail stocks, a sign that many investors are betting that a slowing in consumer spending and drop in consumer sentiment will hurt the industry. Shares short in Lowe’s (NYSE: LOW) rose 51% to 6.1 million. The short interest in Target (NYSE: TGT) was up 15% to 16 million. The short interest in Limited Brands (NYSE: LTD) was up 34% to 9.6 million. Shares short in American Eagle Outfitter (NYSE: AEO) was up 32% to 13.2 million. Shares short in Gap (NYSE: GPS) rose 25% to 21.8 million.

Short sellers also increased bets against the big tech firms. Shares short in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT) were up 7% to 93.3 million. The short interest in Intel (NYSE INTC) rose 10% to 74 million. Shares short in Oracle (NASDAQ: ORCL) were up 44% to 37.2 million. The short interest in Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) was up 12% to 41.6 million. And shares short in Dell (NASDAQ: DELL) rose 8% to 57.9 million.

Date from NYSE and NASDAQ

Douglas A. McIntyre

Photo of Douglas A. McIntyre
About the Author Douglas A. McIntyre →

Douglas A. McIntyre is the co-founder, chief executive officer and editor in chief of 24/7 Wall St. and 24/7 Tempo. He has held these jobs since 2006.

McIntyre has written thousands of articles for 24/7 Wall St. He is an expert on corporate finance, the automotive industry, media companies and international finance. He has edited articles on national demographics, sports, personal income and travel.

His work has been quoted or mentioned in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, NBC News, Time, The New Yorker, HuffPost USA Today, Business Insider, Yahoo, AOL, MarketWatch, The Atlantic, Bloomberg, New York Post, Chicago Tribune, Forbes, The Guardian and many other major publications. McIntyre has been a guest on CNBC, the BBC and television and radio stations across the country.

A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College, McIntyre also was president of The Harvard Advocate. Founded in 1866, the Advocate is the oldest college publication in the United States.

TheStreet.com, Comps.com and Edgar Online are some of the public companies for which McIntyre served on the board of directors. He was a Vicinity Corporation board member when the company was sold to Microsoft in 2002. He served on the audit committees of some of these companies.

McIntyre has been the CEO of FutureSource, a provider of trading terminals and news to commodities and futures traders. He was president of Switchboard, the online phone directory company. He served as chairman and CEO of On2 Technologies, the video compression company that provided video compression software for Adobe’s Flash. Google bought On2 in 2009.

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