Short Interest Pops Up in Unusual Places (GE, NOK, BAC, VZ, ANR, MCD, AAPL, RIMM, MSFT, DELL, GMCR, CSCO)

General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) short interest rose 1.6% to 79.23 million shares. About 0.8% of GE’s float is now short.

Nokia Corp. (NYSE: NOK) saw short interest rise by 2.1% to 337.98 million shares, or about 9% of the company’s total float.

Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC) short interest fell 2.8% to 161.31 million shares, which represents 1.5% of the company’s float.

Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ) saw a 30.1% rise in short interest to 61.21 million shares, or about 2.1% of the firm’s float.

Alpha Natural Resources Inc. (NYSE: ANR) showed a drop of 3.7% in short interest, to 31.91 million shares, about 14.7% of Alpha’s float.

Short interest in McDonald’s Corp. (NYSE: MCD) rose 1.9% to 14.18 million shares. That is about 1.4% of the company’s float.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) saw a short interest rise by 3.5% to 19.43 million shares, or 2.1% of the total float.

BlackBerry (NASDAQ: BBRY) short interest increased by 7.8% to 147.21 million shares, or 29.8% of the total float. Short interest continues to be reported under the company’s previous name, Research in Motion Ltd., but the stock symbol has been changed to BBRY.

Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) posted a 17.1% rise in short interest, to 97.89 million shares, or about 1.3% of Microsoft’s float.

Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) short interest rose by 0.8% to 28.96 million shares, about 2% of the company’s float.

Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc. (NASDAQ: GMCR) saw short interest decrease by 0.2% to 30.83 million shares, or 25.3% of the company’s float.

Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) short interest grew by 11.6% to 61.5 million shares, or about 1.2% of the company’s float.

The big gain in short interest for these two weeks was Verizon. The shorts struck before the news came out that Verizon might acquire the 45% of Verizon Wireless now owned by Vodafone Group PLC (NASDAQ: VOD), so the big jump in short interest is a bit curious. Short interest in Microsoft and BlackBerry almost certainly is related to the prospects for these companies to make inroads against Apple or Samsung — prospects that equal slim and none.