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SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2009
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NEWS ABOUT: short selling

short selling stories: 19 news summaries

(Newser) - Matt Taibbi, who portrayed Goldman Sachs as evil personified in a much-discussed Rolling Stone article over the summer, has the bank in his sights again. In his blog on True/Slant, Taibbi accuses Goldman of misleading and purposely confusing lawmakers about the practice known as naked short selling as new financial... More »

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Wall Street • Goldman Sachs • Rolling Stone • short selling • banking industry • naked short selling • Matt Taibbi

(Newser) - After years of criticism, the SEC is reigning in short sellers, the Wall Street Journal reports. First it cracked down on “naked” short selling, the practice of selling stock one doesn’t actually possess, and tomorrow it could reinstate the “uptick rule,” which had, until 2007,... More »

MORE ABOUT:
SEC • short selling • Securities and Exchange Commission • uptick rule

New SEC Chief Moves Fast to Restore Agency

Schapiro fills openings, reverses Bush policies at battered regulator

Feb 23, 09 9:50 AM CST
(Newser) - New chairwoman Mary Schapiro isn’t wasting time making over the Securities and Exchange Commission, the New York Times reports, reversing several of her predecessor’s policies and filling key positions that have sat vacant for months. “I recognize that we could all be defined by what we missed... More »

MORE ABOUT:
SEC • Christopher Cox • SEC commissioners • short selling • Obama administration • Bernard Madoff • Mary Schapiro • Securities and Exchange Commission

VW Gamble Nets Porsche $20B, Wallops Hedge Funds

Short bets could push some European traders to bankruptcy after stock soars

Oct 29, 08 10:09 AM CDT
(Newser) - Hedge funds that bet on a dive in Volkswagen shares are nursing some pretty stiff hangovers—to the tune of a possible $20 billion in losses—after the shares soared when rival Porsche announced over the weekend it had secretly acquired a 74% stake in its fellow German automaker, reports... More »

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mergers and acquisitions • Volkswagen • Porsche • short selling • hedge funds

MARKETS

Stocks Rise at Open as Jobless Claims Fall

But volatility ensures we'll need to update this in no time

Oct 9, 08 9:12 AM CDT
(Newser) - Stocks saw a strong open this morning, with the Dow rising 135 points after a positive quarterly report from IBM and a rally in European stocks, the Wall Street Journal reports. But investors were also mulling a worse-than-expected jobs report. Though new jobless claims fell by 20,000 last... More »

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stock market • Dow Jones • IBM • jobless claims • short selling

 Now Brace for Short-Sellers 

Wall Street steels for end of ban short-selling

Oct 8, 08 6:01 AM CDT
(Newser) - The controversial three-week ban on short-selling financial stocks ends at midnight tonight and analysts are uncertain about the impact on an already-traumatized Wall Street. Financial shares have plunged 23% since the ban was imposed, suggesting short-selling might not have played as large a role as suspected in earlier declines, reports... More »

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NASDAQ • General Motors • MIT • General Electric • SEC • short selling • financial stocks • hedge funds • CVS Caremark

OPINION

The Markets
Have Evened Out When ...

Analyst gives four
signs of sanity to scan your tea leaves for

Oct 6, 08 9:14 AM CDT
(Newser) - The main thing ailing the credit markets is a crisis of information, writes L. Gordon Crovitz in the Wall Street Journal, so it’ll probably end when we have some. Things may be looking up when…
  • Prices are discovered: Right now, there’s no demand for mortgage-backed
... More »

MORE ABOUT:
subprime mortgages • financial markets • market • credit market • short selling • subprime crisis

ANALYSIS

Hedge Funds in Panic on Volatility, Short-Selling Ban

Fear is main force handcuffing risk-taking investors

Sep 22, 08 11:44 AM CDT
(Newser) - Hedge funds have been caught flatfooted as the stock market’s volatility and a ban on short selling has made it more difficult to predict swings, the New York Times reports. Many funds, which generally have flourished amid market turbulence, are reporting their worst year ever, fueling speculation that some... More »

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Wall Street • hedge fund • Lehman Brothers • short selling • bailout

Wall Street's New Rules Worry Traders

Temporary ban on short-selling causes fundamental shifts

Sep 20, 08 11:22 AM CDT
(Newser) - Stocks roared back to life yesterday on the government’s actions to stabilize the markets, but many traders expressed uncertainty about the new rules of the game, the New York Times reports. The temporary ban on short selling and the new requirement to disclose such trades have wreaked havoc with... More »

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stock market • Wall Street • SEC • short selling • financial stocks

ANALYSIS

Short Sellers Vilified But Vindicated

They may be vultures, but it's not their fault banks are in trouble

Sep 19, 08 3:36 PM CDT
(Newser) - In a memo to Morgan Stanley employees, CEO John Mack fumed that the investment bank was being attacked "by fear and rumors, and short sellers are driving our stock down." Today, following similar action in the UK, the SEC banned short selling of 799 financial companies to stem... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Morgan Stanley • John Mack • SEC • Lehman Brothers • AIG • short selling • Financial Services Authority

SEC Halts Short Selling
on Financial Stocks

SEC suspends practice blamed for downward market pressure

Sep 19, 08 6:56 AM CDT
(Newser) - The SEC temporarily banned short-selling of 799 financial companies today, an “emergency action" aimed at slowing sliding stock prices that have rattled investors’ confidence in recent weeks, CNNMoney reports. The practice, in which in investors borrow stock and sell it, hoping to buy it back cheaper and pocket the... More »

MORE ABOUT:
stock market • markets • global market • short selling • stock price • stock buyback

MARKETS

 Global Stocks Surge 
 on Credit-Market Moves 

New Treasury plans also boost market

Sep 19, 08 4:33 AM CDT
(Newser) - World stocks jumped today on government measures to stop the credit-market meltdown and news that the US and the UK were getting tough on short sellers, Bloomberg reports. Deutsche Bank and Credit Suisse climbed 15% after four days of decline in Europe, while Australia’s Macquarie surged 38% after the... More »

MORE ABOUT:
stock market • Credit Suisse • Deutsche Bank • futures market • regulation • short selling • European stocks • HBOS

updated

Short-Sellers, False Rumors Under Scrutiny


Sep 18, 08 8:00 PM CDT
(Newser) - They may not be the most glamorous of villains, but so-called short-sellers are coming under growing scrutiny for their role in the market chaos, Bloomberg reports. New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo said today he's investigating whether short-sellers spread false rumors about firms such as AIG and Lehman Brothers so... More »

MORE ABOUT:
stock market • Andrew Cuomo • short selling • credit market chaos • financial crisis

ANALYSIS

Demonizing Shorters Won't Save the Likes of Lehman

Darwinian market bloodletting may eliminate raider targets

Jul 19, 08 9:34 AM CDT
(Newser) - Short-sellers have the power to utterly crush Lehman Brothers, as they did Bear Stearns, writes James Cramer in New York, but it's largely Lehman's own fault. Lehman shares much of the "mismanagement, arrogance and recklessness" that brought down Bear, Cramer opines in a piece that says excoriating short-selling hedge... More »

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Bear Stearns • SEC • financial markets • hedge fund • Lehman Brothers • short selling • financial crisis

SEC Will Limit
Short Sales of
Finance Stocks

Agency worried negative bets by traders are hurting the market

Jul 16, 08 9:48 AM CDT
(Newser) - The SEC will step in to police naked short-selling of 17 financial firms, as well as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the Wall Street Journal reports. The agency said it plans to impose short-term, emergency rules on Monday that curtail traders betting on the stocks to drop, worried the short... More »

MORE ABOUT:
stock market • Wall Street • SEC • Christopher Cox • short selling • financial crisis

Fannie, Freddie Plunge Gives
Short Sellers
a Field Day

Very quietly, the sharks are making a killing

Jul 11, 08 9:29 AM CDT
(Newser) - With the rest of the world wringing its hands over fears of a Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac collapse, one tribe on Wall Street is smiling: the short sellers. Investors have bet against Fannie and Freddie in growing numbers as the two mortgage lenders' positions grew more precarious. But handsome... More »

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Wall Street • Freddie Mac • markets • Fannie Mae • credit market • short selling • financial crisis

Hedge Funds Cash In
on Collapse of Bear

Wagering the securities firm stock would fall paid off millions

Mar 20, 08 9:25 AM CDT
(Newser) - The epic collapse of Bear Stearns didn't mean bad news for everyone on Wall Street—several big hedge funds made a mint off it, the Wall Street Journal reports. The funds essentially placed bets that Bear would stumble, then raked in millions when the security firm's shares took a nosedive.... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Wall Street • Bear Stearns • SEC • hedge fund • short selling • Harbinger Capital

Short Sellers Betting Big on Palm's Failure

Smartphone firm made many missteps, but turnaround is possible

Nov 28, 07 8:23 PM CST
(Newser) - Tech stocks have had a good year, and one wouldn’t expect short sellers to take much interest in the area. Anticipating declines, however, is good business, and right now Palm is the horse the short-sell vultures are betting will fall first. Fortune reports that November short-sell bets against Palm... More »

MORE ABOUT:
iPhone • BlackBerry • Palm Pilot • Palm • Google Android • short selling

Obscure Rule Change Blamed for Wild Market

'Downtick' regulation helped check
stock free falls

Aug 14, 07 1:22 AM CDT
(Newser) - A change in an arcane rule governing stock trading is being blamed for some of the recent volatility in the stock market, the Wall Street Journal reports. For more than 75 years, the "downtick rule" prevented traders from shorting a stock as the price fell. Its repeal last month... More »

MORE ABOUT:
stock market • Federal Reserve • SEC • downtick rule • short selling

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