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 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, Nvidia, Apple
, Meta Platforms, Microsoft and
Amazon.com 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, were the most profitable…
