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Politics : Sioux Nation -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Knighty Tin who wrote (16803)	5/12/2005 10:58:02 AM
From: stockman_scott	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 361202

07:14 Short positions reach record high - WSJ column According to the WSJ's "Tracking the Numbers" column, bearish stock bets have skyrocketed this year, but the bears themselves haven't necessarily multiplied. The number of short positions outstanding at the major US stock mkts this year is up more than 9%. Through mid-April, short interest on the NYSE totaled more than 8.4 bln shares, and on the Nasdaq, 5.6 bin shares. Short interest represents short positions not yet closed out. In fact, the number of hedge funds devoted purely to shorting may be declining. Instead, more hedge funds are pursuing hybrid strategies, such as shorting one component of a multi-legged trade. "The mkt goes up 80% or 90% of the time, so shorting is still a tough strategy to pursue as your main business," says the manager of one hedge fund with about $1.8 bln in assets. The manager says he shut down a "short-only" fund about 6 years ago and now pursues a "long-short" strategy that involves both upbeat bets and a limited amount of shorting.