Hedge funds have placed a £1 billion bet that there is more trouble in store for the nation’s retailers, despite 2020 having been the most miserable year for the British high street since the financial crisis more than a decade ago. While non-essential retailers have suffered most during the pandemic because of store closures, J Sainsbury is the shopping sector’s biggest target for short-sellers, with 8 per cent of shares in Britain’s second largest supermarket on loan to hedge funds.