S&P 500 financial stocks see higher short-seller activity in November

Average short interest across S&P 500 financial (NYSEARCA:XLF) stocks rose at the end of November.

The short interest rose to 2.22% in November, with the number of short interest shares in the S&P 500 financials sector rising to 1081.66M shares, up from 1024.72M in October.

Over the past month, the S&P 500 Financials Index (SP500-40) gained 1.74%, outperforming the broader S&P 500, which advanced 0.13% during the same period.

Short interest, which could be an indicator of pessimism, calculates the number of shares sold against the company float. (Short Interest % = Number of Shares Sold Short ÷ Stock Float).

Most shorted stocks:

Franklin Resources (BEN) – 9.21% vs 8.51% last month.

W. R. Berkley (WRB) – 8.70% vs 7.08%.

Erie Indemnity Company (ERIE) – 8.55% vs. 8.01%.

T. Rowe Price Group (TROW) – 7.80% vs 4.97%.

Apollo Global Management (APO) – 7.68% vs 7.87%.

Least shorted stocks:

Chubb (CB) – 0.70% vs 0.68% last month.

Mastercard (MA) – 0.79% vs 0.76%.

S&P Global (SPGI) – 0.88% vs 0.90%.

JPMorgan (JPM) – 0.89% vs 0.92%.

The Charles Schwab (SCHW) – 0.94% vs 0.88%.

Short Interest as per industry:

Capital Markets continued to have the highest short interest, climbing to 2.58% from 2.44%, while Insurance was the least shorted industry at 2.08% against 1.85% in the prior month.

Financial Services was the only segment to see a decline, easing to 2.35% from 2.39%.

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