Short interest jumps for CTRP, SOHU, NTES, NCTY and JOBS

Short interest data is now available for Nasdaq stocks through March 15th. Short interest has rocketed for some Chinese stocks:

Changes in short interest Feb 15th to March 15th:

Online travel services:

• Ctrip.com (ticker: CTRP) +11.8%
• eLong (ticker: LONG) +1.6%

Internet services:

• Sohu.com (ticker: SOHU) +20.3%
• Netease.com (ticker: NTES) +16.0%
• Sina.com (ticker: SINA) -31.1%

Online games:

• The9 (ticker: NCTY) +146.1%
• Shanda Interactive (ticker: SNDA) +7.6%
• (Korean) Webzen (ticker: WZEN) +29.2%
• (Korean) Gravity (ticker: GRVY) -93.7%

Wireless services:

• KongZhong (ticker: KONG) -12.0%
• Linktone (ticker: LTON) -36.6%
• Tom Online (ticker: TOMO) -38.3%
• Hurray (ticker: HRAY) -95.4%

Employee recruiting and human resources services:

• 51Job (ticker: JOBS) +44.4%

Financial services:

• China Finance Online (ticker: JRJC) -4.43%

Software:

• Ninetowns (ticker: NINE) -9.6%

Quick comment on "short interest" from the Internet Stock Blog: High short interest can be interpreted
two ways: it represents pent-up buying demand, so it's technically
bullish; but it might show that smart investors are bearish on a stock,
in which case it's bearish. Most analysts interpret high short interest
as bullish, particularly for stocks with small floats, in which case
high short interest signals risk of a short-squeeze.