With inflation soaring, shorts target discretionary

Sleep Number

03/05/2022 18:24

May 3 (Reuters) - ** Short sellers have raised bets against
consumer discretionary stocks with inflation soaring, according
to the latest research from S&P Global Market Intelligence data.
   ** Short interest in discretionary stocks climbed to 5.28% in
mid-April, which is up 73 basis points since the start of the
year and at the highest level since mid-January 2021, and making
it the most shorted sector among the S&P 500's 11 major sectors.
   ** Home furnishing retail stocks were the most shorted,
according to the data, which was compiled on April 27. The
subsector had 13.53% short interest as of mid-April followed by
computer and electronics retail with 12.48% short interest at
the time. 
    ** Conn's Inc.  CONN.O , down -0.4% on Tues, sells both home
furniture and electronics and has 26% of its shares sold short,
followed by videogame retailer GameStop Corp  GME.N  with 18.6%
short interest. GME, which has a large fan base among retail
investors, last up 0.4% on Tues
    ** According to S&P "short sellers seem to think that rising
inflation will hit the home furnishing sector particularly
hard."
    ** Kirkland's Inc.  KIRK.O  drew the most bearish bets with
19.65% shares sold short followed by Bed Bath & Beyond Inc
 BBBY.O  and Sleep Number Corp  SNBR.O .
    ** On Tuesday the S&P 500 consumer discretionary sector
 .SPLRCD  was the weakest of the S&P's 11 major sectors last up
0.2%. 
    ** Home furniture retailer Kirkland was up 2.6% on the day
at $7.54 but is down ~50% YTD. BBBY was up  1.7% on Tues and
down 5% YTD 

 (Reporting By Sinéad Carew)
 ((sinead.carew@thomsonreuters.com;))