Briefly

The number of “shorted” shares on the New York Stock Exchange -- stock borrowed and sold, usually in a bet on lower prices -- rose 3.5% to 8 billion in the four weeks ended Feb. 15 from 7.73 billion as of Jan. 14, the exchange said Tuesday. It was the largest monthly number since June 2003.

Short sellers generally expect stocks to slide. If that happens, they can profit from the spread between the price at which they sold shares and the price that they pay to buy back the stock.