The short base for MBIA is 9%, up from 6.6% a week ago. The monoline insurer reported disappointing earnings this week, and the shares dropped sharply with the market particularly concerned about the company's unrealized losses on its portfolio of insured credit derivatives.

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Monday brings the long awaited release of 'Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2'. Gamestop will be opening its stores at midnight to meet demand and has seen record breaking pre-order levels. They are also bringing in new management, most recently ex Handango CTO Shawn Freeman.

The short base has been rising steadily over the past few months, currently standing at 16.6%. This is just over one third of the available inventory. Short sellers have made their views clear - but any change in sentiment may result in a rather crowded exit.

The Auto manufacturers are back on the market radar after the news that General Motors (MTLQQ.PK) will not be selling Opel after all. The news that German Government subsidies will be supporting a U.S. car company has been taken as a vote of confidence for some, but not all, of the other European car manufacturers. In these charts we show recent activity on the short side for 9 of the auto stocks.

For full report click here.

Crocs reports results Thursday. The short base currently stands at 8.5% and has been rising sharply over the past week. Crocs (CROX) has made various attempts to diversify and revitalize their business, but the market is clearly concerned that they are ex-growth.

GLG Partners (GLG) reported earnings today. Its losses narrowed and the market bid the shares up by 9% in early trading. The short base has dropped to 3.6% from 5.3% a week ago. Och Ziff (OZM) also reported this week, with an already small short base dropping to almost zero.

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The Stanley Works (SWK) takeover of Black & Decker (BDK) is expected to deliver considerable cost savings. The controversial deal is already attracting lawsuits, but Black & Decker shares were up 25% Monday, and the short base has decreased 30% over the past week. The short base for SWK has increased from just over 2% a month ago to just below 5% on the 2 November.

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Sirius (SIRI) reports earnings on Thursday. Wall Street does not know what to expect from this NASDAQ stock, which has had a rollercoaster of a ride this year.

The short position is rising, and currently stands at 4.7%. The price has been stable, but trade is thin. However, a number of related stocks - Emmis Communications (EMMS), Entercom Communications (ETM), and Cumulus Media (CMLS) have all been strong price performers in the past few days.

After filing for bankruptcy this weekend, CIT (CIT) stock started trading again on Monday with the shares opening 64% lower. As the large short position (15%) indicates, this has been a bonanza for some short sellers, but only those who managed to establish a position before the stock borrowing fees became prohibitively high. CIT group has a DCBS score of 10, the maximum possible. We highlighted CIT earlier this year when we identified short selling by bond holders well in advance of the equity price decline.

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British Airways (BAIRY.PK) lost £401m last year. The market expects further bad news this week and the price has fallen sharply in recent days. The short base has been rising steadily over the past 3 months; after a pull back in the past couple of weeks it has ticked up to around 16%, close to its all time high of 17.4%. 53% of the available lending inventory is currently out on loan.

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Adidas (ADDYY.PK) announces earnings results next week. We have seen a large increase in the loan position which currently stands at 11%. Adidas is due to redeem one of its Convertible bonds in a few weeks and the resulting effective capital injection is expected to reduce its debt substantially. The price has, however, fallen more than 6% over the past week; with utilisation still relatively low at 24% there is considerable scope for further stock borrowing.

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The technology sector is seeing some major upheavals. Google (GOOG) has teamed up with Motorola (MOT) to create the Droid-Android phone – there is speculation that it could dislodge Nokia (NOK) from the top spot. Google also announced free GPS software - which the market took as a major negative for Garmin (GRMN) and TomTom (TMOAF.PK). Both share prices dropped sharply last week and their short bases have been rising steadily.

Nintendo (NTDOY.PK) reported disappointing sales for the Wii, which hit the share price; Sony (SNE) also reported earnings but the market took them well. There is some speculation that [Microsoft's (MSFT)] XboX and PS3 might be making a comeback.

Bronco Drilling Company (BRNC), service provider to E&P [exploration and production] companies, has been upgraded by three different analysts since the beginning of October. The share price has risen steadily through most of that period but has recently become more volatile.

The short interest has risen 54% over the last week and now stands at 4.4%, while the price has fallen 17% over the same time period.

These 9 companies all announced earnings results last week. These stocks show some interesting price movements and changes in short interest. For example, the short base in First Solar (FSLR) is close to its three year high, and earnings Thursday were well below expectations.

Tomtom (TMOAF.PK) also disappointed and sentiment has been further hit by the announcement of the Google (GOOG) entry to the satnav phone market. The short base is currently over 9% and has more than doubled in the past few weeks.

Coca-Cola Enterprises (CCE) is expected to announce earnings this week. The short interest has increased 12% over the past week and now stands at 1.9%. Active utilisation has also increased and now stands at 6.6%.

Coca-Cola and PepsiCo (PEP) both announced disappointing sales last week. Both companies cautioned against an early revival in consumer spending; Coca-Cola will give more details on its conference call this week.

Nokia announced losses last week. This sector is attracting a lot of attention - Nokia has been unsuccessfully challenged by Interdigital (IDCC) over patent infringement; and Nokia (NOK) in turn is mounting a legal IP challenge to Apple (AAPL). Market interest has also been sparked by the new Google (GOOG) Android phone. The short base in Nokia stands at 3.8%, up from 2.5% a week ago. The proportion of lendable currently being utilized is 15%. For the full report click here.

Interdigital has seen a sharp rise in short seller interest following the ITC ruling that Nokia did not infringe its patents. The short base currently stands at 8%, and 38% of the available inventory is being utilized. For the full report click here.

The Average % Lent score across European large and mid cap equities increased 2.34% to 0.8. Food & Staples Retailing (-30.77%) and Technology Hardware & Equipment (-7.69%) saw the biggest decrease in lent score. Health Care Equipment & Services (13.33%) Insurance (15.38%) and Telecommunication Services (14.29%) saw the biggest increase in lent score.

To download the full report for European equities click here.

GT Solar (SOLR) is expected to announce results this week. Its short interest currently stands at 4.3% of shares outstanding. The Solar Industry is popular amongst short sellers with supply particularly tight. Active utilisation for GT and other solar stocks (First Solar (FSLR), YGI) is close to 100%.

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BancorpSouth (BXS) is announcing earnings this week. The short base has been climbing over the past month, and currently stands at 11% representing just under half of the lender supply.

Results from the other regional banks have been mixed; Bancorp South has had a lot of positive coverage recently, but short sellers are taking a more pessimistic view.

Kraft (KFT) announced its interest in Cadbury (CBY) on Labor Day. Since then, the market has focused on Kraft's ability to deliver on its margin targets if the Cadbury acquisition does not go ahead. Following Cadbury's strong sales figures this week, press comments have suggested that Kraft may need to rethink its offer.

Kraft

It was a busy week for earnings announcements. We have covered a number of the reporting stocks in our daily notes, and here we summarize the current short base for 18 of the most interesting.

A number of these stocks are currently involved in merger and acquisition activity. There have been some large price moves, positive and negative, following some of the earnings announcements.