More 1920s Deja Vu

From Financial Times, July 14, 2008:
"The UK Financial Services Authority recently forced the disclosure of short positions in companies conducting rights issues. It concluded hedge funds were trying to manipulate shares."

From The Wall Street Journal, online edition, July 15, 2008:
"The Securities and Exchange Commission has sent subpoenas to more than 50 hedge-fund advisers as part of its investigation into whether individuals spread false rumors to manipulate shares of two Wall Street firms, a person familiar with the matter said."

My "opinion" is that when all this comes out, the extent of bear raiding and market manipulations is going to stun investing public and bring many regulations onto the hedge fund community. Short selling rules will be reinstated and hedge fund disclosure rules will be very strict. These restrictions will be coordinated with the UK and EU so that these huge pools of money will be regulated worldwide.

PS: A smashing seems in the offing today. Europe is way down. I guess the problem is not just American banks.

PPS: I added some money to the Alpha Fund today and might make a major readjustment to concentrate my positions to the stocks I really think will perform from here onward.

Word of the Day

"Neuralgic" - adjective [$10] from neuralgia - noun
Neuralgia (noun) means an intense, intermittant pain along the course of a nerve, especially in the head or face.
Neuralgic means 1. of or pertaining to or concerning with neuralgia; 2. of the nature of, characterized or caused by, or affected with neuralgia.
Sentence: The beefers and bears spread rumors and raid the markets in the worst neuralgic points , viz., the investment and commercial banks, to create panic selling to reward their short sales postions.