FYI: Short interest figures for the end of August were released after the close on Wednesday, and with that release we sent out our semi-monthly update of short interest trends for the S&P 1500 to clients yesterday. One table in the report looked at stocks in the index that have more than 25% of their float sold short and how they have performed so far this month. One useful aspect of this list is that the performance of these stocks usually provides a good barometer of investor sentiment. When the most heavily shorted stocks rally, it is a sign that investors are more willing to hold riskier stocks which is good for the overall market. Meanwhile, when these stocks are underperforming the overall market by a wide margin, it is a sign that investors are increasingly risk averse, which at the margin is negative for equities.
Regards,
Ted
http://www.bespokeinvest.com/thinkbig/2014/9/12/most-heavily-shorted-stocks-getting-hit-hard.html?printerFriendly=true
