Short sellers taking some big hits

These are not auspicious times for short sellers. The main indexes are hitting record highs. Stock buybacks are rampant. So are private equity deals. Earnings aren't so bad. This has happened in bull markets in the past. And today there really aren't that many pure short sellers around. (Remember the heyday of the Feshbach Brothers?) But the funny thing is that there are more short sellers than ever, as Business Week Online notes. Many hedge funds are shorting of course. The growth of so-called 130-30 funds has created a lot more short players. These funds, which have been among the most popular of hedge funds startups, short 30 percent of their portfolios. So shorting is as difficult and competitive as ever. Just borrowing the stock can be a pain. You get the sense that another shakeout is in the making.

For more:
- here's the article from Business Week Online