ABK Forum Topics
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- Selling the Short Sellers Short: Another Sign of Trouble [view article]
- MBIA, Ambac and GICs: The Other View [view article]
- The Insanity of Holding MBIA Parent Company Credit Default Swaps [view article]
- Ambac’s CDO Woes [view article]
- Wednesday Options Update: XLE, XLF, WFC, GE, CSCO, ABK, EWT, PPH [view article]
- Interpreting the Mark-to-Market Losses of Monolines [view article]
- Global Financial Performance [view article]
- Whitney Tilson’s Response on the Monolines [view article]
- The Current Market Atmosphere: Easy Money Hard to Come by [view article]
- Are We Heading for a Dangerous Go-Round in the Credit Markets? [view article]
- Outlook Remains Grim for MBIA, Ambac [view article]
loading ...Recent ABK Articles
- Selling the Short Sellers Short: Another Sign of Trouble
- Monolines Realign [Housing Tracker]
- MBIA, Ambac and GICs: The Other View
- The Insanity of Holding MBIA Parent Company Credit Default Swaps
- Wednesday Options Update: XLE, XLF, WFC, GE, CSCO, ABK, EWT, PPH
- Interpreting the Mark-to-Market Losses of Monolines
- Ambac’s CDO Woes
- Global Financial Performance
- Are We Heading for a Dangerous Go-Round in the Credit Markets?
- Outlook Remains Grim for MBIA, Ambac
- Full List of Articles »
Selling the Short Sellers Short: Another Sign of Trouble [view article]
Naked shorts are similar to the "bear raids" back in the day which were a major cause of the 1929 Crash along with 10% leverage. So here we are again 80 years later with the same problem, only now it is 95% and more leverage. It is incredible that any of these banks on the wrong side are still standing....or are they? It all comes down to greed and Wall Street is insatiable. Bend the rules, break the rules, repeal the rules - none of it matters if they can make a buck and it doesn't matter to them who gets hurt. ReplySelling the Short Sellers Short: Another Sign of Trouble [view article]
How about posting a copy of/link to the speech? I can't comment on what I haven't seen. ReplySelling the Short Sellers Short: Another Sign of Trouble [view article]
Unless the government doesnt stabilize the housing market by stimulating demand to get rid of those overwhelming housing inventories the recovery is going to be slow.And please stop giving building permits, those counties need to get the picture straight. Reply
Selling the Short Sellers Short: Another Sign of Trouble [view article]
why MOST banks WILL FAIL...and they ARE "no LONGER" A GOOD INVESTMENT...
...unless we withdraw from WTO and Nafta, to MAINTAIN A LOCAL HIGH-PAYING JOB BASE, drop Real Estate across the board to about 50% of what it is now, cut government spending drastically...AND EVEN IF WE DID ALL THESE THINGS the transition would still be tough...
WELL MOST OF THAT IS NOT GOING TO HAPPEN...so MANY BANKS WILL FAIL (sustained in appearance by the Fed...but they won't have much investment potential).
Consumers will get laid off IN GREATER NUMBERS AS BUSINESS'S CUT BACK...so they can show less than analyst's expected losses (mostly due to lay offs...who are also those people who will not now be shopping at Target, etc.)
Get the picture...WE'RE GOING DOWN...and the BANKING SECTOR is "LEADING THE CHARGE" FOR THE MOST PART.
Now maybe Obama has a solution, BUT I DON'T THINK SO.
So, IT'S RIDICULOUS TO ME TO WATCH THE "FINANCIAL SECTOR" RALLYING when
THERE IS NO REAL CHANCE FOR IT'S RECOVERY!
there's a lot more I could say, on fundamental economic issues...BUT THIS IS PRETTY MUCH OUR FUTURE.
NO REAL-ESTATE RECOVERY
NO BANKING RECOVERY
MORE TAXES
CONSUMER SPENDING CONTINUING TO DECLINE
MORE JOB LOSSES TO OVERSEAS
OIL continuing to be the new BLACK GOLD...WHICH MEANS AFTER A SHORT HIATUS ...PRICES WILL ONCE AGAIN START TO CLIMB...
all in all, not a good picture. THESE ARE THE UNDERLYING PROBLEMS...
SO MOST RALLIES ON THE MKT...LIKE THE ONE ON THE FINANCIAL SECTOR of the last few days...
ARE BASED ON ILLUSION.
So, my take is SKF looking real good going forward because MOST BANKS ARE HEADED FURTHER IN LOSS TERRITORY.
FLASHROB Reply
Selling the Short Sellers Short: Another Sign of Trouble [view article]
The SEC took away the naked shorting opportunity starting MONDAY in only 19 financial stocks including C and BAC as the banks. Did you see what BAC did in three days as the naked shorts covered rather than borrowed stock to get in compliance? They knew they had lost control in BAC and decided to cover even if it meant paying 10, 20, 30, 40, 50% more than the low. Don't worry, the borrowing requirement goes away in 30 days and actually went away even on Monday for "market makers" whoever the Hell these folks are (GS???) in this day of instant computer matching of buys and sells. ReplyThe Wind
Selling the Short Sellers Short: Another Sign of Trouble [view article]
I'm confused. If you borrow it, you don't own it. Sounds real simple to me. If you don't own it, you can't sell it. Still simple. If you can't sell it, you can't make money. STILL simple. The rule should be the same for ALL investors, ALL stocks. Keep the gambling in the back room so it only affects yourself, not the rest of us. Makes it less confusing. Maybe less fun, too, but tough stuff. ReplySelling the Short Sellers Short: Another Sign of Trouble [view article]
naked shorting is simple fraud, since you don't own what you sell. I can sell something I don't own, why should anyone be allowed to. The old joke about selling someone the Brooklyn Bridge remains germane. ReplyTiedeman
Selling the Short Sellers Short: Another Sign of Trouble [view article]
Short selling should never be banned under any circumstances. It is totally counter productive to ban short selling. ReplySelling the Short Sellers Short: Another Sign of Trouble [view article]
Moratoria, tariffs, rationing and their related governmental activities NEVER work as a substitute for confronting economic realities. All they do is serve to distort markets. Schumpeter, Hayek and Friedman wrote extensively about this, but we only ever listen when it's too late. ReplySelling the Short Sellers Short: Another Sign of Trouble [view article]
By the way, I believe this RENEWAL will be VERY GOOD for our economy. Such creative destruction has always ended up making us stronger over time.What we DESPERATELY need now, however, is a much greater supply of inexpensive ENERGY. This has been central to the worldwide economic miracle that has taken place over the past three centuries.
But we seem to be finally comprehending this economic axiom, which should make our future especially bright once more.
Reply
Selling the Short Sellers Short: Another Sign of Trouble [view article]
I put on and took off short positions to hedge my Goldman Sachs long position several time this week. Every time I went short it was 200 shares short for every 100 shares long in my portfolio. No problem putting any of the trades. I am a "small investor". I'd like to know if those claiming it is impossible for small investors to short financial stocks have actually tried to do it. ReplySelling the Short Sellers Short: Another Sign of Trouble [view article]
Flash,You bring up a KEY point. While actually borrowing stock will slow down shorting, if that was the primary reason for this week's turnaround, then this may be only a GIANT BEAR TRAP. We'll see.
I'm not ready to give up on oil or commodities myself. I believe they are far easier to monetize than the pieces of paper they call equities in this economic climate, and, hence, have far greater intrinsic value presently.
I'm not IMAGINING the bank runs and threatened bankruptcies in the transportation sector I'm seeing. Thousands of truckers have failed due to fuel prices already. The housing market will remain a shambles for some time. These trends will continue to work their way through our economy. . Reply
Selling the Short Sellers Short: Another Sign of Trouble [view article]
I am not against shorting. But the naked shorting is not legal and made to destroy the market. If you want to short, make sure you have the borrowed shares to short. SEC changed the rule that allowed the big boy to do naked shorting but not the retail investors. The worst is that SEC never enforced the 13-day rule which they made. And 13-day rule, make the naked shorters get away from the naked short list. We all saw what happened in the last few days when SEC announced to restrict the naked shorting for a few financial stocks, the market became more stable. The view of this article is a piece of crap. ReplySelling the Short Sellers Short: Another Sign of Trouble [view article]
there are much more risks that we are not aware of, and it's kind of difficult to asses them all at once and come up with a plan, I guess thats why we should always think about how much money we could loose in our investments or plays. ReplySelling the Short Sellers Short: Another Sign of Trouble [view article]
flashrob, well, I'm sorry if you are making losses on your shorts. But shorting is a dangerous game and if you managed your risks well, you should have know that there is this risk known as regulatory risk - the risk that regulators can change rules and therefore your holdings (short or long) will have its price affected. I don't see anything wrong here with them changing rules - they are regulators after all. Its just part of the capitalist system. If they listen too much to the big money guys and the shorts, then they would not be listening to the longs. You see, shorts and longs are on opposite sides. You cannot want to be a long and also want to borrow that same stock to short. If you want to take the latter view, then you should just sell what you have. Meanwhile, the one who wants to short the stock without the stock has no business in the whole affair and if he claims he is just part of the efficient market system - let me tell you he is just meddling with it. Reply