Mixed Tech-Leader Short Selling, Only Partial Tell (AAPL, AMZN, CSCO, MSFT, GOOG, YHOO, INTC, ORCL, QCOM, RIMM, QQQQ)

We have seen what appears to be a mixed bag of shares listed in the short interest of the most active NASDAQ tech stocks traded day in and day out.  Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL), Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN), Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO), Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT) and Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) all saw decreases to their short interest.  While there was an increase in the short interest of Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO), Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC), Oracle Corporation (NASDAQ: ORCL), QUALCOMM Incorporated (NASDAQ: QCOM) and Research In Motion Limited (NASDAQ: RIMM), these actually do not come close on a percentage basis to the declines seen when you compare the relative changes.

These ten stocks listed here account for more than 40% of the NASDAQ -100 weighting measured by the Powershares QQQ (NASDAQ: QQQQ).  The short interest on the QQQQ Trust rose 9.5% to 130.3 million shares, but this is often sector and position hedging in a key ETF rather than indicative of added bets against technology stocks.  We have compiled the data for the settlement as-of date of December 15, versus a prior date of November 30.  A percentage change in the open interest of each has also been noted:

(Stock)
DEC. 15        NOV. 30     %Change
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL)
11,625,586   13,539,121  -20.2%
Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN)
13,676,953   17,145,423  -14.1%
Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO)
39,310,763   43,299,168  -9.2%
Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT)
61,237,637   63,968,585 -4.3%
Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG)
3,765,308    3,830,498  -1.7%

DEC. 15        NOV. 30     %Change

Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO)
27,634,497   24,821,658  +11.3%
Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC)
54,383,850   52,624,694    +3.3%
Oracle Corporation (NASDAQ: ORCL)
22,192,991   21,606,848  +2.7%
QUALCOMM Incorporated (NASDAQ: QCOM
23,428,205   22,953,710  +2.1%
Research In Motion Limited (NASDAQ: RIMM)
22,641,813   22,321,757  +1.4%

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JON C. OGG