Short Selling Against S&P 500 Rises to Highest Since November
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Bearish bets against the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index rose to a nine-month high as short sellers increased speculation stocks may decline amid concerns over the strength of global economic growth.
The proportion of S&P 500 shares outstanding sold short on Aug. 29 rose to 3.03 percent, the most since the end of November and up from 2.37 percent at the beginning of August, according to New York-based Data Explorers, which provides research on short sales and stock lending. Short selling of the gauge reached a three-year high of 5.52 percent in August 2008, before the worst financial crisis since the 1930s drove the stock index to a 12-year low in March 2009.