'Palm' pid='21790' datel Wrote:Shorts are shaking the bushes again today in an attempt to find more shares to borrow. Schwab is looking for more shares and has increased the amount they say they will pay to lenders. When you start loooking at what it costs Schwab to borrow shares, plus now they are going to depositing cash into lenders' accounts to cover the value of the borrowed shares. They then add a healthy margin and pass this all on to shorts. I would guess the cost to borrow is getting steeper for shorts. Yet they continue like crack addicts.
Palm, I am not sure that the Schwab solicitation reflects more net shorting. If I correctly understand this process, Schwab may simply be lining up shares available to short. Yesterday´s call data indicate that as many as 2 million shares were called with deep in-the-money calls bought yesterday to cover short positions. My assumption is that these covered shares are returned to the broker and his client accounts and that the broker must solicit agreements to lend these returned shares again. Maybe I have this last bit wrong, but we will find out what yesterday´s net short position is at the end of business on May 9.