Credit Traders Bullish on BAC, Bearish on Citi

Last week's DTCC weekly credit default swap (CDS) data shows that Bank of America had the largest decrease in the number of outstanding CDS contracts of any major firms. Citigroup had the largest increase in outstanding CDS contracts of themajor US financials, and the seventh largest increase overall.

Credit default swaps are essentially insurance against a company defaulting on its debt. Although the price CDS' sell for is more telling than the number of outstanding contracts, large increases or decreases in open interest can indicate changing levels of concern or speculation.