Short interest on the New York Stock Exchange rose 2.7 percent in first half of December, the exchange said in a release late Thursday. As of December 15, short interest rose to about 13.53 billion shares, compared to 13.18 billion shares as of November 30.

The NYSE's short interest amounted to 3.54 percent of outstanding shares during the period, an increase from 3.45 percent during the previous period, according to NYSE's data.

Investors who sell securities short profit from betting stocks will fall. Short-sellers borrow shares and then sell them, waiting for the stock to fall so they can buy the shares back at the lower price, return them to the lender and pocket the difference.

Below are the five New York Stock Exchange
stocks that experienced the largest increases and decreases in their short
positions from late November to mid-December, according to information released
by the NYSE.

Complete data on short interest on the NYSE was not immediately available.

The five companies with the largest overall short positions are also listed.

The latest date is as of Dec. 15, while the previous period's data is as of Nov. 30.

COMPANY NEW DATE OLD DATE NET CHANGE PCT CHANGE
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FIVE BIGGEST INCREASES:
Bank of America (BAC.N) 240,176,982 75,529,194 164,647,788 218
Bristol-Myers (BMY.N) 139,035,974 48,356,106 90,679,868 187.5
Citigroup Inc (C.N) 280,536,555 215,990,623 64,545,932 29.9
Verizon
Communications (VZ.N) 50,851,332 42,340,406 8,510,926 20.1
Office Depot (ODP.N) 29,863,403 21,659,168 8,204,235 37.9
FIVE BIGGEST DECREASES:
Altria Group (MO.N) 68,890,961 81,683,331 -12,792,370 -15.7
Sprint Nextel (S.N) 90,214,496 102,941,824 -12,727,328 -12.4
New York Community
Bancorp (NYB.N) 32,447,342 43,433,463 -10,986,121 -25.3
General Electric (GE.N) 89,361,590 100,337,377 -10,975,787 -10.9
Merck & Co (MRK.N) 30,977,922 37,155,894 -6,177,972 -16.6
FIVE BIGGEST POSITIONS:
Citigroup Inc (C.N) 280,536,555 215,990,623 64,545,932 29.9
Bank of America (BAC.N) 240,176,982 75,529,194 164,647,788 218
Ford Motor Company (F.N) 140,548,087 135,618,503 4,929,584 3.6
Bristol-Myers (BMY.N) 139,035,974 48,356,106 90,679,868 187.5
Fannie Mae (FNM.N) 119,073,971 119,162,661 -88,690 -0.1

Source: NYSE data as of Dec. 15

Investment Citigroup