Yesterday was one of those special trading sessions. After celebrating the arrival of 2012, most European stock markets opened for trading. But they started without the support from other major markets around the globe: Wall Street, the major Asian markets and the London Stock Exchange were not operating. In any case, the first session was bullish and led to toasts all around Europe because for the first time in many months, yields accumulated on the year were in the black for all indexes. European stock indicators kicked off 2012 with gains and there were no signs of losses.
But we are far away from balancing the negative effects of 2011, and it is clear that the bears have a strong presence and leaving their mark. As the year starts, trading data continues to roll in from 2011. Just yesterday, the CNMV (the regulatory commission that monitors activity on the Spanish stock market) published short positions that have been taken out during the past two weeks up until December 30, 2011. In other words, they already know what percentage of Spanish companies were in the bears' hands through the end of the year.
The first lesson of 2011 is that investors who short a particular stock have had a strong presence in the Spanish stock market. Many companies have watched how during the course of just one year, bears have increased their positions. Indra has been attacked the most. During the past twelve months, short positions in Indra have increased by 3.85% of the company's capitalization to 11.62 billion euros according to data collected at the end of the year.
Indra has become the bears' main target, while last year Abengoa was hit the hardest by short sellers. The latter company has not escaped pressure from the bears, who already own 8.11% of its capital, whereas last year they only owned 5.26%.