Bears Pile Into EVs and Chips

Short sellers turned aggressive this week, with EV and semiconductor names taking the brunt of new bearish bets as bond markets rattled sentiment.

LCID saw the sharpest move among popular names. Lucid Group's short interest hit 49.7% of free float — up 14.4 percentage points in just seven days. Borrowing costs stand at 7.2% APR, and available shares to borrow are nearly exhausted at just 0.4% of SI. Bears clearly see no near-term recovery.

WOLF is under even heavier pressure. Wolfspeed's SI sits at 83% of free float, up 7.7 points week-on-week. The stock has dropped nearly 40% over three months. Zero shares remain available to borrow — short sellers are maxed out.

CHWY is a fresh mover. Short interest jumped 11.3 points to 63.6% of FF. Despite ample borrow availability, pessimism on the pet retailer is growing fast.

HTZ remains firmly in bear territory at 66.5% of FF, down 60% over three months. No borrow availability remains.

On the extreme end, EVCM carries a cost-to-borrow of 37.6% APR with only 6.4% availability — among the most expensive shorts in the market. LUCK follows at 26.3% CTB and a short score of 95 out of 100, the highest across large names screened this week.

Bond market turmoil and rising diesel prices — US diesel hit a record $6 a gallon — are adding macro pressure to already-stressed balance sheets across these sectors.