Short Selling for CONSOL, Southwestern Energy Spikes Up

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Once again we return to a recurring theme of reporting on "short selling" in Marcellus/Utica stocks. For a primer/explanation of what short selling is, read our previous story: “Short Selling” – An Important Signal for Marcellus-Related Companies. The boiled down version is this: Traders who sell stocks "short" are betting that the price of that company's stock is heading lower. A lower stock price means the value of the company goes down, making it harder to borrow money, raising the rates on money borrowed, etc. Low stock prices mean it's harder to do business in general. The average short selling of stocks for all companies in all industries is typically 5-6% of trading volume. Recently, oil and gas stocks, as an industry, have seen an average of 12% short selling of their stocks. When short selling picks up for Marcellus/Utica companies, we take note because it's a signal about the potential value and future prospects for that company. If more than 12% of a company's stock is being sold short, well, that's just not a good "sitch" (as my Millennial kids say). We spotted notices that two important Marcellus drillers' stocks are quite a bit above the 12% range--CONSOL Energy and Southwestern Energy...

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