According to the recent TIM (Trade Ideas Monitor) report and the TIM Sentiment Index (NYSE: TSI [1]), institutional brokers became more bearish over the last five trading days as the TSI decreased 5.0% from 57.32 to 54.46 (see previous post [2] or youDevise website [3] for additional information on the TIM report). For the five trading days ending July 1st, the number of new short ideas as a percentage of new ideas sent to investment managers increased to 30.98% from 22.07% one week earlier (see last week's post [4]), but the intra-week short trend did fall off its high of 35.26%. To date, shorts represent 41.46% of all ideas this year.

As for individual securities in the U.S. and North America, Tyco Electronics (NYSE: TEL [5]), Intel (Nasdaq: INTC [6]), and Electronic Arts (Nasdaq: ERTS [7]) were the stocks most recommended as longs by institutional brokers, while Chemspec International (NYSE: CPC [8]), Bed Bath & Beyond (Nasdaq: BBBY [9]), and First Solar (Nasdaq: FSLR [10]) were most recommended as shorts. The energy, information, and consumer discretionary sectors had increased broker sentiment for the week, while utilities and health care had decreased sentiment.