Retail Short Covering on FTSE 250

Selected retailers, and particularly those in the FTSE 250 were higher yesterday after the latest investment views from the banking group Goldman Sachs and a pleasing update from Game Group.

HMV (HMVMF.PK) currently has 26.92% of its shares outstanding on loan (%SOOL), down from 37% in September, as you will see from this graph. Utilisation is currently at 71%. The Lendable Quantity of the stock has also decreased from 165M to 130M in the same time frame which could mean that either agent lenders are withdrawing their stock from lending portfolios, or they are selling their stock.

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Elsewhere in the FTSE 250, DSG (DSGIF.PK), the owner of Currys and PC World, has 23% SOOL, but again this stock has seen some short covering, from 32% in July to 23% now. The share price has fallen from 70p in September to 10p now. Utilisation is at 51%.

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JD Wetherspoon [JDW/LSE] has also seen short positions being decreased, down from 18% SOOL to 16% between September and now. Prior to that, the SOOL increased from 10% in June. Utilisation is at 62%.

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Carphone Warehouse [CPW/LSE] has 6% SOOL, down a significant amount from 14% in June. Utilisation is at 61%, up from 40% in October but down from nearly 80% during the summer.

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Disclosure: None