The Select Sector SPDR Trust - State Street Materials Select Sector SPDR ETF
ARCAXLB is showing its first signs of short-side retreat this week — but the structural bear case against materials has not been abandoned. Short interest has pulled back from the highs flagged in last week's note. At the June 9 peak, shorts had rebuilt to 25.5% of free float — the most aggressive positioning in over a month. Since then, the position has trimmed by roughly 7% to 23.7%…
XLB utilization surges to 94.79%, near its 52-week peak of 100%, as available shares to borrow tighten sharply to just 12.7% of short interest.
XLB is showing its first signs of short-side retreat this week — but the structural bear case against materials has not been abandoned. Short interest has pulled back from the highs flagged in last week's note. At the…
XLB has spent the past week in a tug-of-war: shorts rebuilt to their highest level since late April, while the borrow market lurched from near-seizure conditions back toward something resembling normalcy — only to…
Snapshot as of 21 Jun 2026
XLB enters the first full week of June with its borrow market still under pressure — but the dynamics have shifted slightly from yesterday's convergence alarm. Short interest has edged higher again. It climbed to 22.3%…
Three lending signals converged on the XLB Materials Select Sector SPDR in the space of 48 hours. Short interest jumped. Availability collapsed. The borrow cost climbed. All three are moving in the same direction at…
XLB — the Materials Select Sector SPDR — has turned sharply lower this week, dropping 5.9% to $49.04, and the borrow market has moved with it: availability has collapsed to near zero, even as short sellers remain well…
XLB — the Materials Select Sector SPDR — heads into mid-May with a split personality: short sellers have been aggressively reducing positions even as the borrow market tightens back to its most extreme level of the…
Short interest in XLB — the Materials Select Sector SPDR ETF — has fallen sharply. It is now at 26.4% of float, down 15.5% over the past week and 18.3% over the past month. Yet the borrow market tells a different…
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