The long / short report May 2026

The long / short report provides a geographic analysis of the long/short market by sector, using S&P Global Market Intelligence's securities finance short interest data.

Highlights from the May report include:

Global Equities

Commercial and Professional Services overtook Consumer Services to become the most shorted sector across global equities during the month.   The largest increases in short interest were seen across the Utilities (+5bps), Household and Personal Products (+5bps) and Commercial Services (+4bps) sectors.  The largest decreases were seen across the Consumer Services (-22bps), Telecommunications (-4bps) and Technology and Hardware (-3bps) sectors.

US Equities

The average short interest across US equities fell to 89bps during the month with Commercial and Professional services becoming the most shorted sector.  Increases in short interest were seen across Capital Goods (+10bps), Household and Personal Products (+9bps) and Food and Beverage (+7bps), whilst the largest decreases were seen across Transport (-19bps) and Consumer Durables (-8bps).

APAC Equities

The average short interest across APAC equities remained at 73 basis points over the month.  Increases in short interest were seen across Consumer Durables (+22bps), Transport (+19bps) and Household and Personal Products (+15bps).  The largest decreases were seen across Insurance (-13bps), Real Estate (-5bps) and Capital Goods (-4bps).

EMEA Equities

Average short interest across EMEA equities decreased to 19basis points during the month.  The largest increases were seen in Consumer Services (+4bps) and Insurance (+2bps).  Small decreases were observed in Telecommunications (-2bps), Energy (-2bps) and Household and Personal Products (-2bps).

Fixed Income

Utilization decreased by 29bps across the government bond markets and by 5bps across corporate bonds.

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