The Shorts Get Out Of Banks And Into Tech (C)(WFC)(WB)(BAC)(MBI)(AIG)(INTC)(MSFT)(ORCL)(DELL)(QCOM)(SIRI)(F)

For the period ending October 15, short sellers got out of most banks and brokerage stocks. That is a shame for them. They could have made a killing this week.

The short interest in Citigroup (C) fell over 5% to 116.8 million shares. Probably due to its purchase by Wells Fargo (WFC) shares sold short in Wachovia (WB) dropped by 54% to 91 million. Short interest in Bank of America (BAC) dropped 14% to 94.1 million. Short interest in MBIA (MBI) fell 21% to 62 million.

The government bailout did not do much for AIG (AIG) is was the only big financial to see a sharp increase in shares sold short, up up 11% to 93.7 million.

Short sellers put their money into tech shares. Intel (INTC) saw its short interest up a fraction to 77.8 million.Shares short in Microsoft (MSFT) moved up 13% to 69.3 million. The short interest in Dell (DELL) moved up 18% to 40 million. Orcacle’s (ORCL) short interest was up 8% to 32 million. Shares short in Qualcomm (QCOM) moved up 24% to 21.8 million.

To no one’s surprise, shares short in Sirius (SIRI) jumped 17% to 232 million and the short interest in Ford (F) rose 8% to 295 million.

Data from NYSE and Nasdaq

Douglas A. McIntyre