Short Stocks: Bets build against Citi, Ericsson, CIT, Xerox

NEW YORK, Oct 27 (Reuters) - Short interest in the Nasdaq
and the New York Stock Exchange rose in the first half of
October, pointing to increasing bearish sentiment among
investors. For details see [ID:nN27119634].

The following list shows stocks that saw increased
short-selling or covering and key recent news events for those
companies. The data reflect short trades with a settlement date
of Oct. 15.

Investors who "short" securities borrow shares and then
sell them, waiting for the stock to fall so they can buy the
shares at the lower price, return them to the lender and pocket
the difference.

For factboxes please see [ID:nN27157014] and
[ID:nN26203412].

CITIGROUP INC (C.N)

After having fallen sharply to roughly 118 million shares
held short at the end of September from over 645 million at the
end of August, short interest in Citi rose more than 50 percent
to nearly 178 million shares in early October.

The bank said Oct. 9 it would sell its Phibro energy
trading business to Occidental Petroleum Corp (OXY.N), allowing
the bank to defuse a battle with regulators over a $100 million
pay package for the unit's star trader.

With the move, Citigroup is shedding a business that has
generated profit by taking big risk. [ID:nN0930601].

The 178 million shares account for roughly 0.8 percent of
the 22.8 billion Citi shares in free float.

LM ERICSSON TEL CO (ERIC.O)

Short interest in New York-traded shares of the Swedish
telecommunications company rose 26.7 percent in the first half
of October, ahead of an earnings report that saw Ericsson miss
forecasts and its share price fell. [ID:nLM420454].

A Reuters poll of 23 analysts published Oct. 7 showed
expectations the company would post a pretax loss of 274
million euros.

About 32.7 million of the company's ADRs were held short.

CIT GROUP INC (CIT.N)

Short interest in the company rose 21.4 percent.

CIT launched Oct. 1 a debt-exchange plan in a move aimed at
preventing the struggling lender to small and mid-sized
companies from filing for bankruptcy.

CIT, however, also asked bondholders to approve a
prepackaged plan of reorganization that would allow it to
initiate a voluntary filing under Chapter 11 if the debt
exchange failed.

About 81 million of the company's shares were held short,
more than 20 percent of its free float.

XEROX CORP (XRX.N)

Short interest in the company soared more than 600
percent.

On Sept. 28, Xerox announced plans to buy Affiliated
Computer Services Inc (ACS.N) for $5.5 billion to move into the
outsourcing business and shares of the printing company plunged
on concerns that it was gambling on a major shift in strategy.

Nearly 47.1 million of the company's shares were held
short, about 5.5 percent of its free float.

XOMA LTD (XOMA.O)

Short interest in the company fell 54.7 percent.

On Oct. 1, the company announced plans for the Phase 2
clinical development of a drug designed for the treatment of
the inflammatory cause of cardiovascular, diabetes, autoimmune
and other diseases.

About 8.4 million of the company's shares were held short,
nearly 5.1 percent of its free float.

FIDELITY NATIONAL INFORMATION SERVICES INC (FIS.N)

Short interest in the company fell 79 percent in early
October.

Shares of the electronic payment processor fell more than 6
percent during the first three trading days of the month,
which could have prompted investors to close their short
positions ahead of the company's earnings report due Oct. 21.

About 4 million of the company's shares were held short,
just above 1 percent of the free float.

(Editing by Andrew Hay)