Bears focus on Alibaba as investors fret over economy

Short sellers in the United States have pushed bets against Alibaba Group Holding Ltd to the highest in more than 14 months on concern that China's deepest economic slowdown since 1990 will only get worse.

Short interest in China's biggest online retailer surged to 7.5 percent of shares outstanding on Jan 21, the highest since November 2014, according to data compiled by Markit and Bloomberg. That is more than double from a Dec 1 low.

Bearish bets on rival JD.com Inc have hovered around 2 percent since last month.