ASND short interest declined 3MM shares last month:
12/26/97 Wall St. J. (Page Number Unavailable Online)
1997 WL-WSJ 14178795
The Wall Street Journal
Copyright (c) 1997, Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Friday, December 26, 1997
Short Interest In Nasdaq Issues Increases 2.1%
By Eileen Kinsella
Staff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal
NEW YORK -- Short interest rose 2.1% in the latest month on the Nasdaq Stock Market, setting another record for the total number of shares sold short.
The total, which includes Nasdaq small-capitalization and large- capitalization stocks, rose to 1,789,729,851 shares in mid-December from 1,752,076,773 shares in mid-November, according to the National Association of Securities Dealers, which runs Nasdaq.
On the Nasdaq SmallCap Market, which is made up of the 1,426 smaller-cap
stocks, short interest fell 3.5%. It increased 2.3% for the 4,195 larger-cap stocks on the Nasdaq National Market.
Traders who sell securities "short" borrow shares and then sell them, betting they can profit by buying the stock back later at lower prices. Short interest is the number of shares that haven't been repurchased for return to lenders. As such, it is often taken as an indicator of the degree of negative sentiment among investors in the stocks. Investors also may rely on short selling for other purposes, including as a hedging strategy related to corporate mergers and acquisitions, for convertible securities and options, and for tax purposes.
The Nasdaq National Market's short-interest ratio rose to 3.13 days from 2.37 days in the previous month. The short-interest ratio for the smaller stocks also increased, to 0.78 from 0.71. The ratio is the number of trading days that would be required to close out the short positions through share purchases and is considered a measure of trading sentiment.
The following companies had the largest decreases in short interest: Intel Corp., down 5,172,377 shares to 31,503,192 shares; Corporate Express Inc., down 4,699,812 shares to 4,651,219 shares; and MCMORAN Oil & Gas Co., down 3,961,298 shares to 5,152 shares.
These companies had the largest increases in short interest: Quantum Corp., up 8,012,607 shares to 19,889,801 shares; Sun Microsystems Inc., up 7,045,558 shares to 14,275,893 shares; and Teleport Communications Group A, up 5,655,005 shares to 9,767,090 shares.
Among companies with the largest short interest positions: WorldCom Inc. was up 2,123,780 shares to 71,536,287 shares; Tele-Communications A TCI Group was up 2,578,798 shares to 30,226,185 shares and Ascend Communications was down 2,983,081 shares to 20,491,396 shares.
The following table shows the Nasdaq issues in which a short-interest position of at least 225,000 shares existed in mid-December or in which the short position had changed by at least 100,000 shares since mid-November.
(See accompanying tables -- WSJ Dec. 26, 1997)
Journal Link: For the complete short interest figures from the Nasdaq Stock Market, see The Wall Street Journal Interactive Edition at wsj.com
---- INDEX REFERENCES ----
NEWS SUBJECT: Short Interest (SHO)
MARKET SECTOR: (TPX)
STATISTICS: Nasdaq Short Interest (NSI)
REGION: North America; United States (NME US)
LAYOUT CODES: Small Majors; Business and Finance Column Stories (SMJ TPT)
Word Count: 416
12/26/97 WSJ ---
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