NEW YORK, April 9 (Reuters) - Short interest on the New York Stock Exchange
edged up 0.1 percent in late March, the exchange said on Thursday. For story
please see [ID:nWNA1502].

Below are the five NYSE stocks that experienced the largest increases and
decreases in short positions from mid-March to late March, according to
information released by the exchange.

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

The latest date is as of March 31, 2009, while the previous period's data
is as of March 13.
COMPANY MARCH 31 MARCH 13 NET CHANGE PCT CHANGE
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FIVE BIGGEST INCREASES:
Citigroup Inc (C.N: Quote, Profile, Research) 1,209,885,167 998,753,223 211,131,944 21.14%
AIG (AIG.N: Quote, Profile, Research) 281,490,970 182,944,981 98,545,989 53.87%
Pfizer Inc (PFE.N: Quote, Profile, Research) 147,638,472 120,406,621 27,231,851 22.62%
Merck & Co (MRK.N: Quote, Profile, Research) 55,850,021 33,043,875 22,806,146 69.02%
JP Morgan Chase & Co(JPM.N: Quote, Profile, Research) 70,473,350 56,025,259 14,448,091 25.79%
FIVE BIGGEST DECREASES:
Time Warner Inc (TWX.N: Quote, Profile, Research) 18,995,954 47,116,718 -28,120,764 -59.68%
Bank of America Corp (BAC.N: Quote, Profile, Research)151,857,770 172,157,974 -20,300,204 -11.79%
Office Depot Inc (ODP.N: Quote, Profile, Research) 7,965,528 19,770,341 -11,804,813 -59.71%
Qwest Communications (Q.N: Quote, Profile, Research) 60,712,960 71,892,133 -11,179,173 -15.55%
Noble Corp (NE.N: Quote, Profile, Research) 10,152,568 19,865,402 -9,712,834 -48.89%
FIVE BIGGEST POSITIONS:
Citigroup Inc 1,209,885,167 998,753,223 211,131,944 21.14%
AIG 281,490,970 182,944,981 98,545,989 53.87%
Ford Motor Co (F.N: Quote, Profile, Research) 236,727,478 245,953,261 -9,225,783 -3.75%
General Electric Co (GE.N: Quote, Profile, Research) 210,639,945 198,402,358 12,237,587 6.17%
Wells Fargo & Co (WFC.N: Quote, Profile, Research) 168,233,991 156,049,848 12,184,143 7.81%

Source: NYSE data as of March 31, 2009
(Reporting by Phil Wahba; Editing by Andre Grenon)