Short sellers in the United States are making huge amounts of money by short selling regional banking shares after the collapse of First Republic Bank led to fear of contagion in the banking space, news agency Reuters reported citing analytics firm Ortex.
In Thursday's session alone short sellers reportedly made profit of $379 million by shorting First Horizon Corp, PacWest Bancorp and Western Alliance Bancorp, Reuters report said quoting Ortex data.
Since the start of this year bearish investors, who took short positions, have made profit of $816 million alone in these three banks.
"Shares of regional banks resumed their slide this week after the collapse of First Republic Bank - the third U.S. mid-sized lender to fail in two months - fueled fears there was more pain ahead for the sector," Reuters reported.
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PacWest Bancorp dropped a whopping 57 per cent on Thursday leading to contagion effect on other banks after it said that it was in talks about strategic options.
First Horizon Corp plunged 40 per cent after its $13.4 billion takeover by Toronto-Dominion Bank Group was mutually called off because there was no clarity on when they would get regulatory approvals.
Western Alliance Bancorp denied a report from the Financial Times that said it was exploring a potential sale. The report had sent the lender's shares down as much as 61.5 per cent before trading was halted.
Short sellers have made $1.2 billion from declines in stocks of US regional lenders in the first two sessions of this month.
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