We have tracked the short interest in the following North American Solar companies as of January 31: Canadian Solar Inc. (NASDAQ: CSIQ), First Solar Inc. (NASDAQ: FSLR). G.T. Advanced Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: GTAT), MEMC Electronic Materials Inc. (NYSE: WFR) and SunPower Corp. (NASDAQ: SPWR).

In the Chinese solar sector we tracked the following short interest changes: J.A. Solar Holdings Co. Ltd. (NASDAQ: JASO), LDK Solar Co. Inc. (NYSE: LDK), Suntech Power Holdings Co. Ltd. (NYSE: STP), Trina Solar Ltd. (NYSE: TSL) and Yingli Green Energy Holding Co. Ltd. (NYSE: YGE).

For China-based firms, the percentage of shares short is not available because the companies are also listed on other exchanges.

Canadian Solar Inc. (NASDAQ: CSIQ) saw short interest rise 4.5% to 2.04 million shares. That is 6.8% of the company’s total float.

First Solar Inc. (NASDAQ: FSLR) short interest fall by 3.6% to 18.3 million shares, which represents 30.4% of the company’s float.

GT Advanced Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: GTAT) showed a decrease of 0.1% in short interest to 36.36 million shares, about 30.8% of GT’s float.

MEMC Electronic Materials Inc. (NYSE: WFR) saw a decline of 7.3% in short interest to 16.62 million shares, or about 7.3% of MEMC’s float.

SunPower Corp. (NASDAQ: SPWR) saw short interest rise by 2.9% to 6.65 million shares, which is 16.7% of the company’s total float.

JA Solar Holdings Co. Ltd. (NASDAQ: JASO) showed an increase of 6.4% in short interest to 2.92 million shares.

LDK Solar Co. Inc. (NYSE: LDK) saw short interest drop 23.2% to 4.29 million shares.

Suntech Power Holdings Co. Ltd. (NYSE: STP) showed a rise of 1.7% in short interest to 25.55 million shares.

Trina Solar Ltd. (NYSE: TSL) saw short interest drop 2.4% to 18.01 million shares.

Yingli Green Energy Holding Co. Ltd. (NYSE: YGE) showed a rise of 11.3% in short interest to 4.75 million shares.

Shares of the Chinese solar stocks have been volatile and mostly tied to news related to government spending on planned solar installation in China during 2013. First Solar and SunPower have lost some of their interest to short sellers as the companies have managed to improve on their installation and operations work. LDK’s big swing is entirely due to the fact that the government has ridden to its rescue.

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