Reuters Blogs – Volkswagen ordinary shares are down today after yesterday’s report of increased short positions.

Stock out on loan, a good indication of shorting, has doubled over the past month to 2 pct of total issuance, according to figures from Dataexplorers.

When the freefloat is only roughly 10 pct, then this is a significant position.

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Tags: blogs, freefloat, issuance, ordinary-shares, pct, reuters, stock, volkswagen

Belfast Telegraph – Mike Ashley’s Sports Direct International has offloaded its 4.8% directly-owned stake in struggling rival JJB Sports, it was revealed today.

Speculation was mounting over the identity of the buyer after the Sports World parent sold 11.9 million ordinary shares.

But it is thought that Mr Ashley – also the owner of recently relegated Newcastle Football Club – still holds further JJB shares through contracts for difference, which are a type of derivative.

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Tags: belfast telegraph, contracts, jjb sports, mike ashley, newcastle football club, ordinary-shares, s sports, speculation, sports world, stake

istockAnalyst.com – Mutual funds and hedge funds are very similar. An investor puts $10,000 into a mutual fund or hedge fund, and the manager uses that $10,000—along with the rest of the fund’s capital—to buy and sell securities.

Though often shrouded in mystery, hedge funds are pretty easy to understand. A mutual fund has to register with the Securities and Exchange Commission; a hedge fund does not. Why? Hedge funds are exempt from registration because they generally operate under one of two exemptions provided by the Investment Company Act of 1940:

• Section 3(c)(1): Hedge funds are exempt from registration if they have "not more than one hundred" investors, all of which are accredited investors; or,
• Section 3(c)(7): Hedge funds are exempt from registration if all of their investors are qualified investors.

So…a hedge fund is little more than an unregistered mutual fund.

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Tags: cnet, commitments, first-avenue, investment-company-act, new-marketplace, news-press, ordinary-shares, sister-sites