coldsnowstorm
The consumer staples sector, which takes up about 6.6% of the S&P 500 Index, has seen a marginal fall in short bets during mid-January as compared to December. S&P 500 consumer staples stocks had an average of 1.52% short positions.
Looking at the price performance, during the last month, Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR Fund ETF (NYSEARCA:XLP) gained about ~2.7% as compared to the broader market (SP500) gain of ~3.7%.
Industry-wise short interest analysis:
Average short interest Industry wise
Food products industry showed the highest short interest (Short Interest % = Number of Shares Sold Short ÷ Stock Float) with 2.39% short interest as of mid-January, up from 2.30% at the end of 2023. Distribution and Retail take second place, with 2.33% short interest. The least shorted industry was Tobacco, with a short interest of 0.70%.
The Coca-Cola Company (KO), PepsiCo (PEP) and Costco (COST) are among the three largest contributors to the XLP index, with short interest of 0.61%, 1.12% and 1.36% respectively.
While among the most-shorted consumer staple stocks are Campbell Soup (CPB), Walgreens Boot Alliance (WBA) and The J. M. Smucker Company (SJM) with a short interest of 5.63%, 5.12% and 4.44% respectively.
The least shorted stocks in consumer staples are Proctor & Gamble (PG) and Philip Morris (PM) with short interest of 0.62% and 0.50% respectively.
Looking at the stocks that have seen considerable growth in short interest, they are: Sysco (SYY), Bunge Global (BG), and Archer Daniels Midland (ADM).