Short Interest In Banks Surges, Falls In Tech

Short interest in major banks rose sharply for the period that ended on January 31.

Share short in Citigroup (NYSE:C) were up 11% to 439 million. The short interest in Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) rose by 18% to 327 million. Shares short in Fannie Mae (NYSE:FNM) were up 11% to 131 million and up 6% to 78 million in Freddie Mac (NYSE:FRE). The short interest in AIG (NYSE:AIG) was up 12% to 30 million.

In the tech sector, shares sold short in Micron (NYSE:MU) fell 14% to 61 million. The short position in Cisco (NASDAQ:CSCO) dropped 19% to 32 million. Shares short in Marvel (NASDAQ:MRVL) fell 36% to 8 million. The short interest in Adobe (NASDAQ:ADBE) fell 33% to 9 million. Share short in Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM) dropped 12% to 25 million.

Among other widely held stocks, the short interest in Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) rose 21% to 56 million. Shares sold short in Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) dropped 6% to 51 million. The short interest in Ford (NYSE:F) fell 14% to 165 million. Shares short in Sprint Nextel (NYSE:S) rose 48% to 143 million. The short interest in GE (NYSE:GE) fell 14% to 66 million. Share short in AT&T (NYSE:T) fell 19% to 58 million.

Data from NYSE and NASDAQ.

Douglas A. McIntyre