Investing

Rising Nasdaq Short Interest Show Big Bets Against Tech

Rising short interest in tech stocks traded on Nasdaq shows the extent to which investors are willing to bet against the sector. The figures compare shares sold short as of January 31 compared to January 15.

Short interest in Intel (INTC) rose 20.7 million shares to 63.9 million Shares sold short in Dell (DELL) rose 10.3 million to 44.9 million. Shares short in Oracle (ORCL) moved up 1.8 million to 41.5 million. Short interest in Cisco (CSCO) moved up 3.2 million to 40.5 million.

One major exception to rising short sales in tech was Microsoft (MSFT) where short interest fell 17.6 million shares to 89.7 million

Largest Short Positions

Company                                       Share Sold Short

Level 3 (LVLT)                                160.4 million shares short

Sirius (SIRI)                                   112.3 million

Charter (CHTR)                                99.4 million

Microsoft                                        89.7 million

E*Trade (ETFC)                              89.1 million

Intel                                               63.9 million

Comcast (CMCSA)                         50.7 million

Dell                                               44.5 million

Yahoo!                                           40.7million

Oracle                                           40.5 million

Cisco (CSCO)                                40.5 million

Largest Increases In Short Position

Company                                        Increase in Short Position

Intel                                                20.7 million increase

Dell                                                10.3 million

Solarfun Power                                 8.5 million

Marvell Technology                           8.4 million

Popular                                            6.5 million

Largest Decreases In Shares Short

Company                                         Decrease In Share Sold Short

Micosoft                                           17.5 million share decrease

Nvidia (NVDA)                                    9.0 million

Comcast                                           8.5 million

UTStarcom                                        6.1 million

RF Micro Devices                              4.7 million

Juniper Networks (JNPR)                   4.6 million

Data from Nasdaq and WSJ

Douglas A. McIntyre

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