'Short sellers' fled the market in July; we may miss them

From the L.A. Times' Money & Co. blog:

Stock market "short sellers" rushed to close out their bearish bets in late July as share prices surged, new data show.

That rush helped drive the market’s powerful advance, just as many analysts had suspected at the time.

The bad news: The removal of so many short bets in a two-week period also quickly burned up potential fuel for a continuing rally.

The number of shorted New York Stock Exchange-listed shares plunged to 14.03 billion as of July 31, down a steep 10.3% from the 15.64 billion shorted as of July 15, the NYSE said today....MORE