NEW YORK, Aug. 24, 2005/PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- As of mid-August, short interest in 2,764 NASDAQ National Market(R) securities totaled 5,655,924,426 shares compared with 5,597,700,084 shares in 2,747 National Market issues for the month of July.

The August short interest represents 3.53 days average daily NASDAQ National Market share volume for the reporting period, compared with 3.44 days in July. Short interest in 589 securities on The NASDAQ SmallCap Market(SM) totaled 165,428,641 shares for August, compared with 150,618,747 shares in 605 securities for the month of July. This represents 1.73 days average daily volume, compared with last month's figure of 1.78 days.

In summary, short interest in all 3,353 NASDAQ(R) securities totaled 5,821,353,067 shares for August, compared with 3,352 issues and 5,748,318,831 shares in July. This is 3.43 days average daily volume, compared with last month's average of 3.36 days.

The open short-interest positions reported for each NASDAQ security reflect the total number of shares sold short by all broker/dealers regardless of their exchange affiliations. A short sale is generally understood to mean the sale of a security that the seller does not own or any sale that is consummated by the delivery of a security borrowed by or for the account of the seller.

The monthly NASDAQ short-interest figures are current as of the 15th of the month and are released to the media after the market close on the seventh business day following that date. The figures this month include all short- interest positions reported July 12, 2005 through August 10, 2005 and settled as of August 15, 2005.

The total NASDAQ short positions for the preceding 13 months and current month follow:

Settlement Date	Total Short Interest	Number of Securities
July 15, 2004	5,109,696,729	3,405
August 13, 2004	5,157,706,325	3,400
September 15, 2004	5,248,399,985	3,398
October 15, 2004	5,130,673,030	3,413
November 15, 2004	5,024,315,108	3,391
December 15, 2004	5,095,006,234	3,393
January 14, 2005	5,041,477,963	3,357
February 15, 2005	5,357,779,121	3,371
March 15, 2005	5,577,053,459	3,357
April 15, 2005	5,609,077,523	3,347
May 13, 2005	5,716,066,911	3,354
June 15, 2005	5,840,614,782	3,344
July 15, 2005	5,748,318,831	3,352
August 15, 2005	5,821,353,067	3,353

For more information on NASDAQ Short-Interest positions, visit the www.nasdaqtrader.com Web site.

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