Investors Ramp Up Bets vs Stock Market?

Is a stubbornly bullish Wall St finally catching up to reality & betting against the market as stocks tank for 3rd day in row? Think Fed Chr’s warning of future “pain” to fight inflation, plunging house sales & a stagnant economy...

WSJ suggests as much after earlier warning that a sustained market retreat was inevitable as the bad economic news piled higher & could not be offset entirely by a temporary rally, a strong job market or moderating gas prices at the pump. Instead, the paper’s “Investors Ramp Up Bets Against Stock Market as Summer Rally Fizzles”, is based on its observation of how “net short positions against S&P 500 futures have recently grown, reaching levels not seen in 2 years.”

“The mood [on the street] went from sour, to less sour, to now more sour,” summed up Charles Kantor, senior portfolio mgr for a Neuberger Berman fund. According to the WSJ, “the S&P 500 futures contract netted more than 260K short positions as of Tuesday among mostly hedge fund traders. If those bellwether rats are jumping ship, are the rest of the crew readying to follow? Clearly, some VERY good news is needed to right the sinking S&P 500 ship that’s “down 15% for the year”? Then, WSJ says Best Buy's sales just plummeted 12%. Maybe Joe has an investor debt forgiveness plan in mind?

Davd Soul