Financials

iShares iBoxx High Yield Corporate Bond ETF  (HYG) short interest is $6.71 billion, 84.25 million shares shorted, 55.72% of the float.

It is the fourth most shorted ETF in the U.S. behind SPY, QQQ and IWM.

Hong Kong\China short sellers have been actively shorting into the declining Hong Kong and Chinese markets and generated $17.3 billion in mark-to-market profits, +18.0%, as the Hang Seng Index declined 16.7% and the CSI 300 Index declined by 25.8% in 2018. Short sellers continue to increase their positions as their profits build, adding $1.7 billion in new shorts throughout the year. Hong Kong\China with $80 billion in short interest is the second most shorted country behind the U.S. ($911 billion) and ahead of Japan ($73 billion) and the U.K. ($66 billion.)

Goldman Sachs Group Inc (GS US) down $15.58 per share, or -7%, on weakness in the financial sector and news that Malaysia is looking to recoup nearly $600 million in fees and commissions paid for $6.5 billion in bond deals for its state fund 1MDB. 1MDB is in the news for embezzlement and money laundering suspicions.

VXX short sellers are down $660.4 million, +50.70%, in mark-to-market losses in 2018. Also, with an average cost to borrow of 3.33% fee, shorts have paid away -$36.1 million in stock loan borrow fees in 2018, to finance their short positions.

As the end of the 3^rd quarter approaches and with expectations managed downward, short sellers continue to increase bearish bets against the largest banks.  S3 Partners real-time short interest analytics calculates that the real time dollars at risk on the short side has increased $1.9 billion since the end of the June quarter.  The largest increases in exposure are Deutsche, Goldman and Wells Fargo, climbing 69.9%, 50.7% and 33.3% respectively.  S3 estimates that short interest in the Global Banking Sector to be $7.5 billion, which is down $296 million month on month.