Shorts Flee Financials, Attack Industrials And Tech

Short sellers jumped out of major financial shares but piled into the stocks for major industrial firms based on data as of June 15. Shorts clearly think the restructuring of the bank industry has taken hold permanently, but that the manufacturing industry is still likely to be troubled.

The short interest in Citigroup (C) dropped 3% to 1.244 billion. Shares sold short in Bank of America (BAC) dropped 20% to 95.5 billion. The short interest in AIG (AIG) fell 4% to 228.7 million shares.

Shares short in JPMorgan (JPM) fell 12% to 48.6 million. The short interest in KeyCorp (KEY) was off 15% to 27.7 million. Shares short in US Bancorp (USB) dropped 5% to 60.4 milloin. The short interest in Aflac (ALF) was down 39% to 8.3 million and shares sold short in Allstate (ALL) fell 27% to 8.5 million.

The only large financial stock with a significant increase in short interest was Wells Fargo (WFC) where shares sold short moved up 8% to 116.7.

Short sellers made a large bet against Ford (F) shares raising their interest by 17% to 136 million. The short interest in Boeing (BA) was up 35% to 22.6 million. The short interest n Caterpiller (CAT) moved higher by 10% to 46.1 million. Shares short in Exxon (XOM) were up 17% to 34.1 million.

Short sellers clearly think the rebound in the Nasdaq and tech shares will be short-lived. They increased their interest in Intel (INTC) by 1% to 115.1 million shares. The short interest in Microsoft (MSFT) was up 24% to 70.6 million. Share short in Dell (DELL) rose 25% to 52.5 million. The short interest in Cisco (CSCO) was up 16% to 51.8 million. Shares short in Oracle (ORCL) were up 7% to 40 million. The short interest in Palm (PALM) rose 11% to 38.3 million.

Data from NYSE and NASDAQ

Douglas A. McIntyre