NEW YORK March 10 (Reuters) - Short interest on the Nasdaq rose 2.1 percent in late February, the exchange said on Tuesday, suggesting an increase in bearish sentiment in the stock market.
Below are the five Nasdaq stocks that experienced the largest increases and
decreases in their short positions from mid-February to late February,
according to information released by the exchange.
The five companies with the largest overall short positions are also
listed.
The latest date is as of Feb. 27, while the previous period's data is as of
Feb. 13.
COMPANY FEB 27 FEB 13 NET CHANGE PCT CHANGE
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FIVE BIGGEST INCREASES:
Sirius XM Radio Inc (SIRI.O) 170,953,171 158,752,423 12,200,748 7.7
Sun Microsystems Inc (JAVA.O) 43,897,876 36,649,358 7,248,518 19.8
Seagate Technology (STX.O) 18,161,615 11,340,332 6,821,283 60.2
Applied Materials Inc (AMAT.O) 38,104,198 32,349,862 5,754,336 17.8
News Corp (NWSA.O) 34,961,658 29,217,118 5,744,540 19.7
FIVE BIGGEST DECREASES:
Charter Communications (CHTR.O) 33,799,086 54,158,060 -20,358,974 -37.6
Dell Inc (DELL.O) 31,697,021 50,602,631 -18,905,610 -37.4
Intel Corp (INTC.O) 93,832,785 106,296,121 -12,463,336 -11.7
Huntington Bancshares (HBAN.O) 50,387,202 58,749,944 -8,362,742 -14.2
Cisco Systems Inc (CSCO.O) 56,530,581 61,887,453 -5,356,872 -8.7
FIVE BIGGEST POSITIONS:
Sirius XM Radio Inc 170,953,171 158,752,423 12,200,748 7.7
Level 3 Comm (LVLT.O) 142,304,490 141,595,532 708,958 0.5
Intel Corporation 93,832,785 106,296,121 -12,463,336 -11.7
Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) 87,013,470 91,816,007 -4,802,537 -5.2
E*TRADE Financial Corp (ETFC.O) 73,758,916 72,959,331 799,585 1.1
Source: Nasdaq data as of Feb. 27, 2009
(Reporting by Phil Wahba; Editing by Andre Grenon)