Short Sellers Very Mixed in High-Priced Market Leaders (AMZN, AAPL, BIDU, FFIV, GS, GOOG, IBM, MA, NFLX, POT, PCLN, CRM, VMW, WYNN)

Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) saw a slight uptick in short selling to 3.478 million shares as of January 31 versus the January 14 report of 3.282 million shares in the short interest.

International Business Machines (NYSE: IBM) saw a fairly large jump to 14.164 million shares short as of January 31 versus 12.808 million on January 14. There had been four consecutive drops and is still down from over 18 million sh
ares at the end of November.

Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE: MA) saw a large gain to 1.585 million shares in its short interest as of January 31; the January 14 reading was 1.547 million shares. This is still one of the smallest short interest readings for Mastercard in a year.

Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX) was largely unchanged even with a small increase. Its January 31 short interest was 11.293 million shares versus 11.225 million shares as of January 14.

Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan (NYSE: POT) saw a monster rise in the short interest in January. As of January 14 settlement date, its short interest grew a whopping 36% to 5.533 million shares versus 4,059,704 shares at December 31. This is the lowest reading in a year; maybe no one wants to be in front of that share split.

Priceline.com Incorporated (NASDAQ: PCLN) was a small gain to 3.581 million shares as of January 31 after having been 3.485 million shares on January 14. There is just no pattern in the short interest here.

Salesforce.com Inc. (NYSE: CRM) was also not changed very much despite a slight drop. The January 31 short interest was 9.785 million shares versus 9.875 million shares at January 14.

VMware, Inc. (NYSE: VMW) saw a decent drop in its short interest to 4.508 million shares as of January 31 versus 5.313 million as of January 14. This is the lowest short interest in a year.

Wynn Resorts Ltd. (NASDAQ: WYNN) saw yet another drop in its short interest to 3.639 million shares as of January 31 versus 4.38 million shares short as of January 14 settlement date. Again, another year low when it comes to shares in the short interest at Wynn.

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JON C. OGG