Short sellers lost $195 billion in 2023 bets against US, Canadian stocks -S3 (updated)

First Republic Bank

04/01/2024 21:23

(Adds details on most and least profitable bets)
    By Carolina Mandl
       NEW YORK, Jan 4 (Reuters) - Investors who bet against
U.S. and Canadian stocks had paper losses of $194.9 billion last
year following a sharp market rally, data provider S3 Partners
Research said on Thursday.
    The firm said 2023 was an “exceedingly difficult year” for
short sellers, after the Nasdaq Composite Index  .IXIC  surged
43.4% and the S&P 500 rose 24.2%. Investors who short a stock
are betting that its price will fall.  
    Bets against Tesla  TSLA.O , Nvidia  NVDA.O , Apple
 AAPL.O , Meta Platforms  META.O , Microsoft  MSFT.O  and
Amazon.com  AMZN.O  were the six biggest losers for short
sellers, S3 said. 
    Overall, investors’ total short position was $957 billion,
S3 said. 
    Still, some investors were able to make money betting
against stocks, especially during the banking crisis that rocked
markets last March. 
    Shares of First Republic Bank, which was eventually acquired
by JPMorgan Chase  JPM.N , were the most profitable short last
year, generating a profit of 840%, or $1.6 billion. Failed
lenders SVB Financial Group and Signature Bank were also the
third- and 11th-most profitable bets in 2023, respectively.  
    Reuters reported in April that early short sellers in
troubled banks were in the small minority.

 (Reporting by Carolina Mandl in New York
Editing by Chris Reese and Matthew Lewis)
 ((carolina.mandl@thomsonreuters.com; +1 (917) 891-4931;))