Short Sellers Mob Big Banks And Telecoms (BAC)(C)(VZ)(T)

Short sellers took huge positions in major banks and telecom companies in the two-week period ending December 15. The short interest in Citigroup (NYSE:C) rose 30% to 281 million ahead of the bank closing its fourth quarter books. Investors also expect an earnings stumble at Bank of America (NYSE:BAC), perhaps because of its credit card default rates. Shares short in the financial firm rose 218% to 240 million. Shares sold short in Bank of New York (NYSE:BK) rose 23% to 16 million.

Among the largest telecom companies concerns about slowing wireless sales and attrition in wireless sales drove up shares sold short in AT&T (NYSE:T) to 51 million, a 10% increase. The phone firm reacted to network problems affecting the performance of the Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) iPhone. Shares sold short in rival Verizon (NYSE:VZ) were up 20% to 51 million. The short interest in Qwest (NYSE:Q) moved higher by 13% to 54 million.

Tech shares posted better short interest results perhaps on the assumption that the IT spending recovery will continue. Shares short in Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) fell 4% to 61 million. The short interest in Palm (NASDAQ:PALM) rose very slightly to 60 million shares. Shares short in Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) ticked up 3% to 55 million The short interest in Dell (NASDAQ:DELL) fell by 7% to 48 million.

Shares sold short in Cisco (NASDAQ:CSCO) fell 9% to 39 million. The short interest in Nvidia (NSADAQ:NVDA) was down 29% to 25 million. Shares short in Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) dropped 17% to 24 million and shares short in Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM) rose 2% to 23 million. The short interest in Oracle (NASDAQ:ORCL) rose 3% to 22 million.

Data from NYSE and NASDAQ.

Douglas A. McIntyre