Post #8303 by mungofitch on the Berkshire Hathaway board

Stocks A to Z / Stocks B / Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A) ❤

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The largest contributor to the index, Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.B) had a short interest of 0.77% of the total float, while the next biggest contributor, J.P. Morgan's (JPM) short interest, stood at 0.81%.”

Even though the current price is a little richer valuation multiple than is usual, I very much doubt there are many people actually trying to make money shorting the stock. It seems more likely that it is part of a combination strategy--shorting the index, index tracker arbitrage, market makers hedging their exposure from puts they've sold against the S&P or another index, that sort of thing. We aren't the only ones who have noticed the very strong short term correlation between Berkshire's price movements and the cap weight indexes...emphasis on short term, though.

As the market has become more exuberant, there are more and more combinations that make sense to somebody out there.

Jim

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