Short interest has increased on banking names since the election
After eyeballing a few short interest charts on banking stocks, I asked Schaeffer's Quantitative Analyst Chris Prybal to put together pre-election-through-present short interest changes on top holdings in the Financial Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLF) and SPDR KBW Regional Banking ETF (KRE). The tables below echo what I saw in a few charts: increases in short interest on banking names since pre-election levels.
I found this interesting in the context of three things: price action, as financial stocks have rallied since the election; the BofA-Merrill Lynch (BAML) survey showing fund managers overweight this group; plus, the media coverage about a Trump victory (less regulation) and rising long-term rates being good for banks. I thought short covering would accompany some of the moves we have seen in these stocks, but that has not been the case, with the exception being BB&T Corporation (NYSE:BBT); in fact, we've seen many double-digit percentage increases in short interest on big-cap banking stocks. (Note: A couple of the top XLF holdings are insurers, so I did not highlight the changes on these symbols in the table below.)
Top XLF Components Since Nov. 1
Top KRE Components Since Nov. 1
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