Briefly

Bearish traders pushed “short sales” on the Nasdaq Stock Market to a record high of 7.89 billion shares as of mid-March, up 12% from mid-February, Nasdaq said Monday. In a short sale a trader borrows stock and sells it, expecting the price to drop. If the bet is correct, the trader can buy shares in the market to replace the loaned shares and pocket the difference between the sale price and the repurchase price. New York Stock Exchange short sales also were at a record high in mid-March, the NYSE said last week.