Median short interest for ASX200 stocks is below the peaks reached in 2016, but is still quite elevated relative to history. This may reflect investors’ unease with valuations – the PE ratio has been holding in the 15½-16x range since early 2016, which is 10-15% above average. At the sector level, short interest is particularly elevated for discretionary retail, telcos and food & beverages. At the other end of the spectrum, there is minimal shorting of stocks in general insurance, packaging and media.
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David Llewellyn-Smith is Chief Strategist at the MB Fund and MB Super. David is the founding publisher and editor of MacroBusiness and was the founding publisher and global economy editor of The Diplomat, the Asia Pacific’s leading geo-politics and economics portal.
He is also a former gold trader and economic commentator at The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, the ABC and Business Spectator. He is the co-author of The Great Crash of 2008 with Ross Garnaut and was the editor of the second Garnaut Climate Change Review.
