General Electric saw its short interest drop sharply again between the November 30 and December 15 settlement dates. GE was the only one among the most shorted stocks trading on the New York Stock Exchange to see a decline. Alcoa led the upward trend, with a double-digit percentage bump that lifted it into the top six.

Note that the six most shorted NYSE stocks all had more than 130,000 shares short at the end of the most recent settlement period.

Short interest in Chesapeake Energy Corp. (NYSE: CHK) has grown for three consecutive periods, gaining more than 4% in early December to more than 246.28 million. That was 37.5% of the company’s float, and the days to cover fell to less than 10 as the daily average volume hit a three-month high. In the period, Chesapeake shares hit new 52-week lows. Short sellers watched the stock fall almost 29% between the settlement dates, while the S&P 500 was down a little more than 2%. Shares closed most recently at $4.45, up from a recent multiyear low of $3.56. The 52-week high of $21.49 was seen last February.

Sprint Corp.’s (NYSE: S) short interest grew more than 5% in the first weeks of the month, on top of about an 8% gain in the previous period. The most recent reading of around 213.63 million was 34.3% of the float, as well as the greatest number of shares short in at least a year. The days to cover rose to more than 11 for the first time this year. Sprint made some management changes in December, and the share price ended the two-week period more than 6% lower, despite considerable volatility in that time. The stock has risen about 11% since then and ended last week at $3.81, in a 52-week trading range of $3.10 to $5.45.