Short Sellers Make A Big Push Into Tech Stocks (CSCO)(PALM)(SYMC)(RIMM)(DELL)(MSFT)

A number of short sellers are not buying the tech rally and have substantially increased their positions in Microsoft (MSFT), Dell (DELL), Cisco (CSCO), Symantec (SYMC), and Palm (PALM).

Among other major technology stocks, the short position in Blackberry maker RIM (RIMM) rose 17% to 22.6 million shares. The short interest in competitor Palm was up 10% to 42.2 million. More than 33% of the Palm float is now sold short.

But, it was the really large tech companies that experienced the most notable moves.

The short interest in Microsoft rose 23% to 88.8 million shares. Shares sold short in Dell rose 14% to 59.8 million and the short interest in security software company Symantec were up 23% to 30.4 million. All of these are clear bets against a recovery of PC sales and may also represent a gamble that early buzz on Windows 7, the sales of which are supposed to help the computer hardware and software businesses, will not be good.

Douglas A. McIntyre