US equity short positions have so far lost $5.5 billion in November, as global stock markets have responded to the US election result and the prospect of a highly effective COVID-19 vaccine, according to the latest data from Ortex Analytics.

Ortex’s analysis found that travel and tourism stocks led losses for short sellers as investors became increasingly confident that an end to the pandemic may be in sight, and global equity traders have quickly begun to rotate from “quarantine” stocks such as Zoom, Netflix and Peloton back into “reopening” sectors including travel and leisure.

The Ortex data suggests that many short sellers were caught out by the rapid change in investor sentiment – cumulatively US short positions have lost $5.5 billion since 1st Nov 2020. Travel and tourism companies lead short sellers’ losses, but technology short positions have returned profit as the market reflects growing confidence about an end to the pandemic.

Top 10 largest losses for short sellers (Nov 1st – Nov 9th)

Top 10 largest profits for short sellers (Nov 1st – Nov 9th)

Commenting on the data, Peter Hillerberg, co-founder of Ortex Analytics, said:

“Investor confidence improved dramatically following news of a Biden victory and the prospect of a Covid-19 vaccine. This rapid swing in sentiment has caught many short sellers off guard, leading to significant losses so far in November. However, these losses would have been far worse had it not been for pockets of profit, for example among tech stocks.

“What will be interesting is to see what happens next. Do short sellers hold tight and hope the market rights itself following he exuberance of the past few days, or do we see a fundamental reassessment of short and medium term outlooks and a change in positioning as a result. In any case, short sellers have an uphill battle to recoup this month’s losses.”