Remember the stress tests for 19 of the US’s biggest banks?
They ended up being pretty much a non-event, with 10 of the 19 financials needing to add money to their coffers — money charitably provided (in part) by the US govt.
Short interest in the 19 banks, as measured by the percentage of shares outstanding on loan, has now dropped 20 per cent from its high on May 7th — the day the stress test results were revealed. Here’s the chart from Data Explorers, which tracks short interest.
Interestingly, while the majority of banks have seen their short interest decline further since May 15, Data Explorer’s last update on the banks, four companies have seen an increase. They are Regions Financial Corp, SunTrust banks, Fifth Third Bancorp and Citigroup.