Limit Down

[peternap]

I had to look up the rules on this. I've never been through it before that I noticed.

I hate to admit it but I'm kind of excited. If one were to find a stock that is tanking very hard today, buy it and it survived to the election...well you get the picture.

Everything with any liquidity is selling off.

[Squirl]

Index futures don't usually lock market down or lock market up.  In commodities futures it's not uncommon.

[desdawg]

Hege Funds trying to cover. I heard last night that by years end there is a good probability that 25% of all Hedge Funds will disappear. Broke, Belly up. At least that was the predicition.

[Sassy]

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=10529  this seems to be a pretty good explanation of what is happening... 
Who is Behind the Financial Meltdown?
Market Manipulation and the Institutional Speculator

by Michel Chossudovsky

Global Research, October 11, 2008

The market is heavily manipulated. The driving force behind the meltdown is speculative trade. The system of  "private regulation" serves the interests of the speculators.

While most individual investors loose when the market falls, the institutional speculator makes money when there is a financial collapse.

In fact, triggering market collapse can be a very profitable undertaking.

There are indications that the Security Exchange Commission (SEC) regulators have created an environment which supports speculative transactions.

There are several instruments including futures, options, index funds, derivative securities, etc. used to make money when the stock market crumbles.

The more it falls, the greater the gains.

Those who make it fall are also speculating on its decline.

With foreknowledge and inside information, a collapse in market values constitutes a lucrative and money-spinning opportunity, for a select category of powerful speculators who have the ability to manipulate the market in the appropriate direction at the appropriate time.

Short Selling

One important instrument used by speculators to make money out of a financial meltdown is "short selling".

"Short selling" consists in selling large amounts of stocks which you do not possess and then buying them in the spot market once the price has collapsed, with a view to completing the transaction and cashing in on the profits. 

The role of short selling in bringing down companies is well documented. The collapse of Lehman, Merrill Lynch and Bear Stearns was in part due to short selling.

Short selling has also been used extensively in currency markets. It was one of the main instruments used by speculators during the 1997 Asian Crisis to bring down the Thai baht, the Korean won and Indonesian rupiah.

Speculation in major currency markets also characterizes the ongoing financial crisis. There have been major swings in currency values with the Canadian dollar, for instance, loosing 10% of its value in the course of a few trading days.

Temporary Ban on Short Selling

Following the stock market meltdown on Black Monday September 15, the Security Exchange Commission (SEC) introduced a temporary ban on short selling. In a bitter irony, the SEC listed a number of companies which were "protected by regulators from short sellers". The SEC September 18 ban on short selling pertained largely to banks, insurance companies and other financial services companies. 

The effect of being on a "protected list" was to no avail. It was tantamount to putting those listed companies on a "hit list". If the SEC had implemented a complete and permanent ban on short selling coupled with a freeze on all forms of speculative trade, including index funds and options, this would have contributed to reducing market volatility and dampening the meltdown.

The ban on short selling was applied with a view to establishing the protected list. It expired on Wednesday October 8 at midnight.

The following morning, Thursday 9th of October, when the market opened up, those companies on the "protected list" became "unprotected" and were the first target of the speculative onslaught, leading to a dramatic collapse on of the Dow Jones on Thursday 9th and Friday 10th.

The course of events was entirely predictable. The lifting of the ban on short selling contributed to accentuating the downfall in stock market values.  The companies which were on the hit list were the first victims of the speculative onslaught.

The shares of Morgan Stanley dropped 26 percent on October 9th, upon the expiry of the short-selling ban and a further 25 percent the following day.

Financial warfare

There are indications that the downfall of Morgan Stanley was engineered by financial rivals. A day prior to the September 18th ban on short selling, Morgan Stanley was the object of rival speculative attacks:

    John Mack, chief executive of Morgan Stanley, told employees in an internal memo Wednesday [September 17]: "What's happening out there? It's very clear to me – we're in the midst of a market controlled by fear and rumours, and short sellers are driving our stock down."' (Financial Times, September 17, 2008)  con't at link above...

Also, another key to why it is happening - a must see short video of Bush Sr on 9/11/1991  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-pVmL2RyYe4&mode=related&search=

[desdawg]

Looks like National City is being sold to PNC. http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20081025/bs_nm/us_banks_7 Soon there will only be a handful of big players left. The little guys are still coming up the ladder for the big rescue.