(Corrects 7th paragraph to show buying protection is equal to a "short" view)

NEW YORK, April 16 (Reuters) - Net volumes in credit default swaps on the the benchmark U.S. high-grade CDS index exceed those on its equivalent in Europe, which may reflect a more bearish view of U.S. credit, according to a report by Credit Derivatives Research on Thursday.

Gross volumes on U.S. and European CDS indexes are about the same, based on data by the Depository Trust & Clearing Corp, though net volumes in the U.S. greatly exceed those in Europe, Tim Backshall, chief strategist at the research firm said in a report.

This "suggests investors positioning for U.S. underperformance in our view," he said.

Gross volumes in global CDS markets grew by only $53 billion globally last week, the DTCC said on Thursday in its weekly report of CDS volume changes.

Changes in the way U.S. CDS are traded may have been a factor behind the low volumes, though trading is expected to increase in the coming weeks, Backshall said.

"We remain convinced that CDS market participants are primed -- either long or short -- but unwilling to add/remove risk en masse in this market; perhaps waiting for the equity market to leg one way or another," he said.

Credit default swaps are used to insure against a borrower defaulting on their debt or speculate on their credit quality. When an investor buys protection they are taking a "short" position, and when they sell protection they are taking a "long," or positive, view of the debt.

CDS changes that reflected deteriorating perception of credit quality during the week were on International Paper (IP.N: Quote, Profile, Research), Whirlpool Corp (WHR.N: Quote, Profile, Research), Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp (BNI.N: Quote, Profile, Research), Germany, Porsche (PSHG_p.DE: Quote, Profile, Research), Telus Corp (T.TO: Quote, Profile, Research), Residential Capital, United Parcel Service (UPS.N: Quote, Profile, Research), HCA Inc and Toll Brothers (TOL.N: Quote, Profile, Research), said Backshall.

Positive sentiment was reflected in CDS on Italy, Ford Motor Co (F.N: Quote, Profile, Research), France Telecom (FTE.PA: Quote, Profile, Research) VolksWagen (VOWG.DE: Quote, Profile, Research), Sempra Energy (SRE.N: Quote, Profile, Research), AB Volvo (VOLVb.ST: Quote, Profile, Research), BNP Paribas (BNPP.PA: Quote, Profile, Research) and Ireland.