From WSJ Online: DOW JONES NEWSWIRES May 21, 2007 4:42 p.m. New York Stock Exchange Group Inc. (NYX) said May 15 short interest rose 7% to 11.76 billion shares from 10.99 billion on April 13. Short interest on May 15 was equal to 3.1% of the total shares outstanding. Every frigging day, someone on this forum claims that everyone is bullish, the whole world is long and we're at a top. HORSEPOOP! Yes, the market could correct on any given day but the people claiming that the world is long never have any data to back that up and the short interest data above proves that they are wrong.
The problem is, there is very little retail money in the market. In the past, the %short would indicate what the "pros" were doing. But the pros now are getting squeezed.
I 'kind' of agree with your statement but at the same time wonder why there is 'little' retail participation? Just more hedge funds? Individuals not interested? Too few daytraders? What's different this time around?
Pros are not short, not even close. This run has been with Hedge Funds and M/A funds. Johnny Six Pack is just now getting into the BULL, Pension Funds, and the like are now putting money to work. China just dumped 2 billion into Blackstone.... US markets are now just catching up with the Emerging Markets returns. Im Bearish as all hell, but this Bear is waiting as this market will push past 14,000. Gas has just now reached Inflation Adjusted prices from the 80s, Oil is still below 70 dollars a barrel, even with Geo-politcal problems in ME. THIS IS A BULL MARKET UNTIL THE MARKET DECIDES OTHERWISE.
Well, daytraders are giving up in droves. Even Joe Six-Pack knows you are trading against bots most of the time. Even swing trading is tough now. It's just hedgie vs. hedgie. I think between the 2000 market meltdown and the real estate collapse, the retail investor is tapped out. Most people I know still think the market is a scam after the late 90's. Once bitten twice shy.
Hey Deepfried, Just an FYI, an increase in short interest is an indication of a bullish indicator. Regardless of it's implied name.
Clearly, reading comprehension is not one of your strengths. Did you even read my post? Give it another try. Maybe read it a couple of dozen times. Slowly.
Look at the numbers of Etrade, Ameritrade, Charles Schwab. Their numbers are hurting. Their clients (retail) are trading less and less. You could interpret this as a lack of interest from retail folks. Maybe most Joe Average see a big disparity between the economic reality they see in their everyday life (house prices, gas prices, inflation, value of USD when going abroad) and the economic projection the Dow Jones (=international mega cap companies) seems to discount.
The economy is global as are the markets and with the devaluation of the dollar, the markets are even more disconnected from the domestic consumer...the companies that are growing aren't necessarily doing so via domestic sales. Also, in case many people haven't noticed...Americans are indebted to the bone and with credit tightening kicking in disposable income will only be flowing to gas for SUVs and marble countertops to impress the neighbors.