Institution: As US stocks hit new highs, short positions continue to rise.

On July 3, Jin10 reported that the latest research from Wall Street short position tracking firm S3 Partners shows that despite a strong rebound after a 25% big dump in U.S. stocks this year, short positions in both the S&P 500 index and the Nasdaq 100 index have continued to rise steadily. Researchers point out that this increase in shorting positions in line with the rising market may reflect that investors are adopting a "contrarian strategy"—shorting at highs to hedge risks or expressing doubts about the sustainability of the recovery. Specific data shows that the short position in the S&P 500 index has risen from 5.4% of the float at the beginning of the year to above 5.8%, while the short ratio in the Nasdaq 100 index has expanded from less than 5.2% to about 6.1%. It is worth noting that although the S&P 500 index has recently hit new highs, as of Wednesday, its year-to-date cumulative rise is only 6%, far behind the global major markets' average rise of 15%-20%. S3 emphasizes: "Among the major global stock indices, only a few have performed worse than the S&P 500 index, making its gains significantly lag behind the global average."