It’s never boring these days. Recall that there are times when the S&P 500 goes 100 days or more without making a 1% intraday move. But big moves are the norm nowadays — and they aren’t bullish. Neither is the fact that the many of the worst of the low-quality stocks that are down still down 80%-90% from highs are continuing to spike. Much, probably most, of the recent rally action for those and other downtrodden stocks has resulted from short covering.
Short-selling is when people borrow stock from their broker to sell it immediately, hoping to buy it back at a lower price, return it to the lender and pocket the difference. Short covering is when the trader buys the shares to close out a short position. Short-selling got to be very profitable for a month or two when the stock market was tanking in May and June. But, of course, the action brought in too many short-sellers, which made it crowded. That crowd has thinned out in the past couple weeks. Here are five main reasons I expect a “Big Broad Sell-Off” in coming days and weeks: 1. We had an historic Bubble …