Against this backdrop, hedge funds are placing larger bets by shorting a slew of stocks including C3.ai and U-Haul . In the event that the overall market sell-off stops, however, these stocks could also be in play for a short-squeeze and climb higher. C3.ai has one of the highest short-interest readings on the list of 39.2 million shares through Sept. 15, up from 35.9 million at the end of August. That's up from 7.8 million shares at the conclusion of August. Other stocks that made the list include Intercept Pharmaceuticals , which saw short interest climb 18% from the end of August to the middle of September to 12 million shares.

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Persons: shorting, Guess, Italy's Alfasigma, Groupon Organizations: Dow Jones Industrial, Nasdaq, Intercept Pharmaceuticals