Short Bets Against Retail Disappear

Short sellers must not agree with the conventional wisdom that high gas prices and unemployment will keep Americans out of stores and malls this summer. These investors decreased their negative bets against many major retailers

The short interest in Home Depot (NYSE: HD) dropped 20% to 17.8 million shares. Short sellers cut their interest in Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) by 8% to 31.8 million shares. Shares sold short in Limited Brands dropped 27% to 6.6 million. Even embattled Sears Holdings (NASDAQ: SHLD) held its own. Share sold short in the company were flat at 11.6 million.

Many tech stocks did not do well, and chip stocks were hit particularly hard. The short interest in Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) rose 6% to 103.1 million shares. Shares short in Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) rose 21% to 31.9 million. Shares sold short in AMD (NYSE: AMD) moved 4% higher to 65.4 million.

Other notable moves in major companies included a 13% increase in the short interest in Exxon Mobil (NYSE: XOM) to 29.9 million shares, an 18% drop in the short interest in Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) to 49.6 million shares, a 13% drop in the short interest of AT&T (NYSE: T) to 51.7 million, a 96% increase in shares short in Comcast (NASDAQ CMCSA) to 30.1 million, a 22% drop in the short interest in Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) to 52.1 million, and a 29% drop in shares short in Oracle (NASDAQ: ORCL) to 23.1 million.

Douglas A. McIntyre