May Short Interest in Bank Stocks Mixed (JPM, STI, USB, NCC, STT, BAC, C, WFC, BK)

Stock Tickers: JPM, STI, USB, NCC, STT, BAC, C, WFC, BK

The short interest for MAY 2007 is out., and there is notreally any trend in the large money-center and super-regional banks sector.  We noticed an increase in the regional bank ETF short interest:  The KBW Bank ETF (KBE) rose from a short interest of 229,700 in April 2007 to 390,000 in May; and the Regional Bank HOLDRs Trust (RKH) saw its short interest of 2.48 million in April rise to 3.049 million in May; iShares Financial Sector Fund (IYF), 41.4% banking, saw its short interest of 263,100 in April grow to 330,600 in May. 

Here is the rest of the May short interest versus April:

STOCK (Ticker)                    MAY07    APR07    Change
JPMorgan Chase (JPM)    28.24M    27.47M    2.7%
SunTrust Banks (STI)        7.94M      5.81M      36%
US Bancorp (USB)             25.23M    24.8M      1.46%
National City (NCC)           26.66M    22.34M    19.3%
State Street (STT)               12.44M    9.58M      29%

lower short interest…..
Bank of America (BAC)      28.72M    32.3M     -11%
Citigroup (C)                        32.4M      29.49M    -9.0%
Wells Fargo (WFC)             35.97M    36.69M    -1.9%
Bank of New York (BK)       5.04M      6.23M      -19%

Jon C. Ogg
May 22, 2007

Jon Ogg can be reached at [email protected]; he does not own securities in the companies he covers.