S&P 500 Short Interest Drops, Led by Banks, as AIG Bets Shrink

President Barack Obama said creation of an insurance exchange combined with tax credits would help extend health coverage to about 13 million small-business employees who now lack it.

Obama released a study today by the White House Council of Economic Advisers that concluded that many of the nation’s 27 million small businesses don’t have the bargaining power of corporations and as a result pay as much as 18 percent more for employee health insurance plans.

Those are “costs that eat into their profits and get passed on to their employees,” Obama said in his weekly radio and Internet address. “As a result, small businesses are muWagers against the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index declined for the first time since May as investors shorted fewer shares of financial institutions, including a 92 percent reduction in bets on American International Group Inc.

Short interest on the S&P 500 fell to 9.98 billion shares as of July 15, a decrease of 0.2 percent from two weeks earlier, according to data compiled by U.S. exchanges and Bloomberg. Financial companies saw the only decline among 10 industries, with short interest falling 7.1 percent to 3 billion shares. That’s the largest drop among 10 S&P 500 industries since April. Bets against energy companies rose 6.6 percent to 508.2 million. h less likely to offer health insurance.” ..... baca selengkapnya