Massive Short-Covering in S&P By Tony Crescenzi Street.com Contributor 10/1/2007 9:12 AM EDT
In the week ended Sept. 25, large speculators massively covered their short positions in S&P 500 E-Mini contracts, according to new data released late Friday by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
Large speculators, so-called non-commercial traders, reduced their collective net short position by 244,100 contracts to 151,433 net shorts after falling 13,120 contracts from a record 408,653 contracts the previous week.
The massive short base, which had grown from just 43k in June, almost certainly played a role in both the resilience seen in share prices in August (relative to the carnage seen in credit markets) and the subsequent rebound in share prices in September. Hence, it would be more than fair to say that the upside in share prices, at least from this important technical aspect, has been significantly reduced.
For perspective, before 2007, the largest-ever speculative net short in S&P 500 E-Mini contracts was 256,812 contracts, set in the week ended May 23, 2006. The average net short since from the start of 2006 to the present was 142,523 contracts.
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