Banking, finance, and taxes

Major Banks See Rising Tide of Short Interest

Chris Lange

Published: May 25, 2018 10:15 am

Last Updated: January 11, 2020 11:09 pm

The financial sector was a major part of the Great Recession, and it has been a major part of the recovery and raging bull market since then. Generally speaking, the major financial institutions in the United States are a good barometer of the current state of U.S. markets.

So when short sellers make a play against these major banks, they are effectively betting for a downturn. Conversely, when they back off they might be expecting a surge. Granted, some plays are directly against individual companies, like we saw with Wells Fargo early in 2017.

The May 15 short interest data have been compared with the previous figures, and short interest in most of these selected big bank stocks increased.

Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC) saw its short interest shrink to 113.25 million shares. The previous level was 121.00 million. Shares were last seen trading at $30.02, in a 52-week range of $22.07 to $33.05.

The number of JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) shares short rose to 23.40 million from the previous level of 22.84 million. Shares recently traded at $110.74, in a 52-week range of $81.64 to $119.33.

Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C) short interest increased to 23.62 million from the previous level of 18.31 million. Shares were trading at $68.60, in a 52-week range of $59.87 to $80.70.

Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE: WFC) short interest grew to 35.55 million shares from the previous reading of 31.18 million. Shares were trading at $54.85, within a 52-week range of $49.27 to $66.31.

Short interest in Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS) decreased to 5.39 million shares from the previous 5.71 million. The stock recently traded at $235.42, within a 52-week range of $209.62 to $275.31.

Morgan Stanley’s (NYSE: MS) short interest for this settlement date was 14.97 million shares, up from the previous 11.34 million. Shares were changing hands at $53.29, in a 52-week range of $41.07 to $59.38.