Los bajistas salen de la banca antes de los resultados

All six banks listed do not have significant short positions, amounting to at least 0.5% of their capital. The major Spanish bank faces its third-quarter earnings season with short-sellers kept in check. After recent developments, none of the six listed banks hold short positions below a half percentage point, triggering an alert from regulators.

This week, Citadel cut its short position on Unicaja below the half percent threshold, just as Wellington reduced its bet against Bankinter. The latter institution, which previously concentrated the largest short positions in the sector, approaches the 22nd of October with minimal short-selling pressure as it presents its accounts on October 22nd.

This season arrives amid the correction of the sector in the stock market. The Ibex 35 Banks index has lost 8.3% of its value since its historic highs in the previous month. A sharp downward adjustment, driven primarily by turbulence in European bond markets, is largely attributed to growing investor fears of a sovereign debt crisis centered in France.

This situation, according to many analysts, is becoming the perfect excuse to make profits in the sector, and satisfies the expectations of the few hedge funds betting on downward corrections in the sector. In other words, at these levels, the hedge funds see little risk of further corrections in the sector. If they had machines virtually idle with the Ibex 35 Banks above 2,200 points, they are even more relaxed now that it has moved slightly above 2,050 points.

Meanwhile, the various analysis firms believe that bloodshed from a potential sovereign debt crisis will not reach the river. On the contrary, analysts from Citi, JPMorgan, or Barclays believe there is a buying opportunity in the latest pullbacks in the stock market, especially given their strong expectations for strong earnings in the third quarter and their conviction that aggressive shareholder return policies are far from at risk.

With all these factors weighing in, and Santander leading the sector with a 19.5% gain in the market, experts dismiss significant short-selling moves until the end of the earnings season.