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Weekend Recap

Location: Blogs Bob O'Brien's Sanity Check Blog    
Posted by:   bobo 3/5/2006 2:15 PM

 

The last week or so was an eventful period for the market, and for news in the NSS issue, as well as in the market manipulation saga. Of note:

  • SEC Subpoenas Herb, Jim Cramer and Carol Remond, and TSCM.

 

  • Multiple articles are written complaining this violates the 1st Amendment.

 

  • Jim Cramer throws subpoena on the floor on TV, writes “Bull” on it.

 

  • Four executives at TSCM sell stock before ths subpoenas are reported to the public.

 

  • Herb goes on a whiney news jihad against OSTK, Byrne, the SEC

 

  • Biovail sues Stephen Cohen, Gradient, for $4.6 billion

 

  • Multiple NY news agencies rail against Cox, SEC for subpoenas

 

  • Multiple NY news agencies falsely claim Cox rebukes Enforcement for issuing them

 

  • Cox appears on CNBC and dispels those rumors

 

  • Gradient and Rocker lose bid to get OSTK suit dismissed on SLAPP grounds

 

  • CNBC poll shows 89% favor SEC subpoenas, support issuance

 

  • Jesse Eisinger attacks Biovail for attorneys’ hiring of PIs

 

  • Bill Alpert attacks Biovail just in general

 

  • “Pulling a Cramer” enters popular lexicon for defacing a document and refusing to honor its authority

 

  • CNBC becomes the “Herb and Jim” apologist spin channel

 

  • Jack Byrne says he wishes Patrick would spend more time on the business, Patrick agrees

 

  • Easter Bunny accused of being anti-Semite, evil, satanic, etc. (nothing new, but stepped-up efforts)

 

When one considers the number of negative events for the market manipulators in one week, it should come as no surprise that they are panicking, and lashing out in amateurish and transparent ways.

And next week should be equally ugly.
Copyright ©2006 Bob O'Brien
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Comments (51)
Re: Weekend Recap By bburrell on 3/5/2006 2:35 PM
I have predicted this would get both uglier and nastier. Let's hope next week is worse. I am stocking the larders, and lining up my allies.

I say again, as I have for five years, if they have nothing to hide, open the books.
Re: Weekend Recap By You Da MAn Bud on 3/5/2006 2:54 PM
From: "Bud Burrell"
http://cfrn.net/forum/viewthread.php?tid=5003

"In the five years since, I have been a principal observer and advisor on this entire scandal as it has mushroomed out of control. I have been widely quoted in a number of publications, and I was a principal source for both Gayle Essary at Investrend, Helen Avery at Euromoney (quoted in both), and many more miscellaneous references. I can give you names of references you can check me with, including Wes Christian, to whom I was his principal industry consulting expert for over three years, et al. I was directly responsible for getting Christian to get Shapiro to Euromoney through my prompt of Wes for an appropriate response to Thompson's insult to Euromoney."
Re: Weekend Recap By n-tres-ted on 3/5/2006 4:37 PM
InTheKnow, I'm inclined to think it would be a positive development, as compared to so much of the financial media presently being controlled by related parties. You won't hear it from those on the left who criticize FNC as right wing, but FNC employs many bona fide liberals and the channel winds up letting you hear both sides of political spin and presenting the facts pretty even handedly. Both the WSJ and CNBC have disappointed me in that respect. Although WSJ is said to be still the most respected editorial page, it has been off the mark in important respects in recent years. Not the least of which is its support for Alan Greenspan and its encouragement of Fed funds rate hikes. And CNBC has been outrageous in its biased coverage of NSS. It's bad enough that they put on a carnival show like Cramer's. With Cramer's audience being primarily daytraders and/or novices, the sweet part was when Kudlow/CNBC got ambushed by their own poll on the SEC subpoenas. Of COURSE the traders were going to support subpoenas into this phony market manipulation! And if Murdock gets his own financial news network on the air, viewers will be ready to move to the new coverage to give it a chance. But Murdock will have to do better than the people Cavuto gets on his show. No doubt Murdock will find plenty of "money honeys" able to give Maria B. a run for her money.
Re: Weekend Recap By InTheKnow on 3/5/2006 5:06 PM
n-tres-ted,

Murdock owns the NY Post. Roddy Boyd works for the NY Post.
Murdock got a lot of financial help from Michael Milken way back when. Do an internet search and read all about it.
Re: Weekend Recap By dave on 3/5/2006 5:26 PM
rtway1, this is an answer from your question in the other blog. I wish there was a short way to answer your question, but the system is complicated.

1. Real shares are issued by the company when the directors sign a treasury order. In most cases, the stocks are issued by the company transfer agent. These are the only real shares.

2. The first stock exchange was literally people standing on a corner and selling each other shares. In the 70's, couriers literally shuttled shares around the city. It was too much paper, so they decided to register the shares in the name of a third party depository, that could hold shares on behalf of the brokerages. Today, street form shares are registered by the company in the name of "Cede & Co." Cede & Co. is the ACTUAL owner of your shares. Cede means "to give up ownership". It also stands for the CEntral DEpository.

3. The depository trust corporation keeps track of which participants beneficially own those shares. A participant is either a brokerage or a clearing house.

4. Most trades cancel out. For example, if 1000 people trade Microsoft at a brokerage, approximately half of them are buyers and half are sellers. If buyers and sellers are equal, than nothing happens. If sellers exceed buyers, then the brokerage owes the net difference only to the NSCC which handles clearing. If buyers exceed sellers, then the DTCC owes the brokerage shares.

5. In theory, the NSCC is supposed to move claims on shares either in to or out of their account at the DTC. The NSCC realized they could make more money by skipping this step. They just let brokerages have negative balances (they call it a fail to deliver) as long as the brokerage has collateral. The scam is that for whatever strange reason, the NSCC reduces the required collateral as the share price goes down, so the counterfeiter gets a financial benefit even if no shares were delivered. They also run a stock borrow program that let's you borrow real stock to sell, but it seems unnecessary as they don't require shares to be delivered.

You get your brokerage statement showing shares and your broker gets their statement showing shares, but no one but the clearing house realizes more people think they own shares than Cede & Co. actually owns.

Wait, there's more. Stay tuned for the next post!
Re: Weekend Recap By dave on 3/5/2006 5:36 PM
The fails at the DTCC group (they are the holding company that owns the NSCC and DTC) are ridiculous and according to them are $6 billion per day at the value the shares have been pushed down to.

I think the DTCC fails are the tip of the iceberg.

Look how many participants at the DTC are clearing houses.

https://login.dtcc.com/dtcorg/binary/19003Part_Alpha.pdf

90% of the brokerages in the US hold their stock at clearing houses who in turn hold it at the DTC who in turn holds it in the form of a certificate from the company issued in the name of "Cede & Co."

The biggest failures: Adler Coleman, Refco and MJK as examples, were in these third party clearing houses. The courts have ruled that even if they know the introducing brokerage where the customer is is committing fraud, they have no obligation to police them and protect the customer.

Imagine a clearing house with 100 brokerages, each buying and selling Microsoft. On average, some brokerages will be net long and some will be net short and on average all those trades will cancel out. If they extend credit to one of the brokerages (possibly because that brokerage is controlled by the owner of the clearing house), then they can extend that brokerage huge credit, without requiring any collateral.

The brokerage can keep selling and as long as there is collateral at the DTC, then the introducing brokerage gets the cash proceeds from the sale minus the current value of the shares. The collateral can be profit on other short deals.

It's a huge house of cards and there is no risk to the miscreants. The insurance fund will bail everyone out and the clearing house owners have limited liability. When it hits the fan, the bad guy will be some offshore hedge fund customer and no one knows who owns it.

The money is gone and the system is left holding the bag.

The system doesn't want to hold the bag, so they'd rather lie to you and put out misinformation on the DTCC website.
Re: Weekend Recap By dave on 3/5/2006 5:50 PM
Off topic:

n-tres-ted,

Fox News is propaganda and except for the satire in the earliest episodes of the Simpsons, was mostly aimed at a low brow audience. I can just imagine what the headlines would be if he owned the Wallstreet Journal? Actually, that could be a funny image.

- small story, "Murdock buys DJ"
- banner headline, "Funny Bunny is Looney Tunes - Your money is safe with the Enterprise" An accompanying photo of Cramer with his crazy faced grin and the caption "That's all Folks!"
Re: Weekend Recap By efmartin on 3/5/2006 5:59 PM
Your weekend recap forgot to mention the sudden insider selling at TSCM just after they received their subpoenas. It reminds me of the Bomb Squad t-shirts that say on the back "If you see me running, try to keep up."
Re: Weekend Recap By rtway1 on 3/5/2006 6:01 PM
Thanks Dave, you have been extremely helpful and I do appreciate your time and effort. I have to print this out and study it more to get it to sink in, but you are a good teacher. It seems to me that there is a lot of paper trails in this scheme and a lot of room for extortion. If there is a small chink in the armor it could go amuck pretty easy, or am I just being to hopeful?
Re: Weekend Recap By dave on 3/5/2006 6:10 PM
Every trade can be analyzed - the paper trail is what will sink them.

The DTCC could announce detailed fail delivery by company tomorrow if they chose to. At least that would expose the tip of the iceberg.

There isn't a logical reason for keeping this data secret except to protect the crooks.
Re: Weekend Recap By pinkice on 3/5/2006 6:11 PM
bobo - great summary post! dave - excellent post of the way the clearing house system works. whatever happens this week in the media, i hope PB or whoever is speaking for OSTK regarding lawsuits, sticks to the following: a. frontrunning of positions b. accountabiliity of share count - need for DTCC to disclose the FTD issue and getting the Company off the Reg. SHO listing. all the other whining of the media is just that - noise to distract the real issues at hand. those of us living across the USA and globally are a tad sharper then what the wall-street
hoods give us credit. all their talk is just sphew - they sound just like Kozlowiski and Ebbers at this point. the more they talk at this point, the more they just imcriminate themselves.

PB - you have fought cancer and won, you now have another calling - you have taken the high road morally to go up against the wall street elitist and the other monied powers. know that there are many of us out here in cyberland behind you.

bobo - keep up the great work. the internet is our voice.
Re: Weekend Recap By jpc on 3/5/2006 6:11 PM
dave

In #4, "Most trades cancel out", is it possible for the broker to short Microsoft to an in house buyer and not involve the DTC or NSCC at all?
Re: Weekend Recap By dave on 3/5/2006 6:34 PM
Yes, they call it "desking". They take your order, print the trade (so you see it go through) and list the share in your account, but they don't bother buying anything. Effectively, your brokerage has naked shorted to you.

1. Your brokerage can own less shares than their clients own in aggregate.
2. Clearing brokerages can own less shares than the aggregate of the introducing brokerages.
3. Foreign depositories can own less than the clearing houses and brokerages that have accounts with them.
4. The DTCC can let brokerages and clearing houses have negative account balances (outstanding delivery obligation).
Re: Weekend Recap By jpc on 3/5/2006 7:20 PM
Thanks Dave - the more we find out, the worse it gets.

Back in 1999 - 2000, I knew, for example, of people who held QCOM calls costing about $25,000 or so and whose value roughly one year later was somewhere over $1,000,000. Whoever sold these calls (and the zillions of other similar calls) had to be hurting. Any idea on how to put a number on these losses and figure out just who they belonged to? With monthly option expirations this sort of pain could have continued (absent the "crash") for a couple more years.
Re: Weekend Recap By efmartin on 3/5/2006 8:03 PM
Your weekend recap forgot to mention the sudden insider selling at TSCM just after they received their subpoenas. It reminds me of the Bomb Squad t-shirts that say on the back "If you see me running, try to keep up."

Bobo: I Got it in now, EF. Thanks for the reminder.
Re: Weekend Recap By mhelburn on 3/5/2006 9:10 PM
Did everyone notice that Thom Calandra was a founder of Marketwatch? This could be a pattern. Create your own propaganda machine to support your position in the market. Cramer has used TSCM to promote himself. TSCM had a trading arm for a time. What happened to it? Kinda like Camelback with Pinnacle. Disappeared. Herb went from TSCM to Marketwatch so he is definitely a knowledgeable person. Now he is a huge TV personality.

Calandra did buy write sell and got caught. Since the SEC condoned the shorting as a type of enforcement, they haven't paid much attention to the sell, write, buy guys. I think that is changing per the transcript of Commissioner that came out this week. If one plays it too close to the edge for too long, it a guarantee to go from market guru to market goo.
Re: Weekend Recap By RubeWaddell on 3/5/2006 10:06 PM
Quick on the trigger with the accusations Wilbur, where are your facts?
And why do you have a problem with the DTCC opening their books? If NSS is a myth, let's find out and put an end to the discussion.
What are you afraid of, The Truth?
Re: Weekend Recap By robelita on 3/5/2006 10:07 PM
I wonder if we could entice Woodward and Bernstein to come out of "retirement" and do some more investigative journalism-shouldn't be a problem finding a replacement for Deep Throat on Wall Street-lots of rat finks to choose from ;)
Re: Weekend Recap By razorsheldon on 3/5/2006 11:30 PM
With the toxic waste reference to the Refco situation and the intricate tangle of wire leading in and out of the grenade pin, what are possible solutions to fixing this problem?

I am quite aware a grave problem appears to exist, however I haven't seen any viable solutions proposed that wouldn't completely destabalize the equity markets in which the vast majority of American citizens have their entire retirement savings locked up. Are there any, or is this a powderkeg treehouse in a forest fire?
Re: Weekend Recap By InTheKnow on 3/6/2006 7:43 AM
razorsheldon,

What solutions are you referring to and exactly how would the markets be destabilized? The majority of average Americans have already lost their life savings in the stock market. Ask any of your friends or neighbors if they would invest in the stock market and everyone will give you a horror story!
Re: Weekend Recap By Mino on 3/6/2006 7:33 AM
<>

Anyone remember in a later (maybe the last) episode of 'I, Claudius' where Claudius cryptically mumbles "let all the poisons that lurk in the mud...hatch out!"? And everyone just gives him a curious stare and then then go back to their business, dismissing him, as usual, as a semi nut case.
Just rang a bell.
Re: Weekend Recap By anon on 3/6/2006 7:35 AM
New Bloomberg Article on Overvoting

One share does not always equal one vote in the crazy math of proxy contests.
When short sellers borrow stock, investor democracy can be a sham.
B y B o b D r u m m o n d
Thomas Montrone, CEO of a company that oversees shareholder elections, says overvoting is ‘nothing short of criminal.’
Corporate Voting Charade

http://www.bloomberg.com/media/markets/apr_ft_proxy.pdf
Re: Weekend Recap By LALALAND on 3/6/2006 7:43 AM
StockGate: Speed Bumps In ?Jihad-Land? As Biovail Stalks Analysts; Byrne Sr. Cools On Overstock ?Distraction? / FinancialWire®

March 6, 2006 (FinancialWire) While not legal setbacks, such as Gradient and Rocker Partners suffered this past week, allegations that Biovail (NYSE: BVF) has been hiring private investigators to empty the trash of analysts, and a news report that Overstock.com?s (NASDAQ: OSTK) Chair Jack Byrne is at odds with his son, CEO Patrick Byrne over time being spent on a ?jihad? against market manipulators, left the opponents of naked short selling scrambling to deal with their own public relations problems.

March 6, 2006 (FinancialWire) While not legal setbacks, such as Gradient and Rocker Partners suffered this past week, allegations that Biovail (NYSE: BVF) has been hiring private investigators to empty the trash of analysts, and a news report that Overstock.com?s (NASDAQ: OSTK) Chair Jack Byrne is at odds with his son, CEO Patrick Byrne over time being spent on a ?jihad? against market manipulators, left the opponents of naked short selling scrambling to deal with their own public relations problems.

Biovail, which alleges more than a dozen public companies have been similarly harmed by what it terms sham and collusive research between Gradient, Rocker and SAC Capital, including Krispy Kreme (NYSE: KKP), was said by Roddy Boyd of the New York Post to have hired private investigators represented by Mitchell R. Schrage, Esq., to take the trash of former Banc of America (NYSE: BAC) analyst Jerry Treppel, with whom it has a long-running feud, and Bank of America analyst David Maris, whose wife was allegedly ?repeatedly followed? whenever she left her home in suburban New Jersey.

The investigators were apparently questioned by New Jersey police.

Other companies cited by Biovail as having potential causes of action against Gradient and one or more hedge funds include AstraZeneca, (NYSE: AZN) Avon Products (NYSE: AVP), Baxter International (NYSE: BAX), Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX), Novastar (NYSE: NFI), Celgene (NASDAQ: CELG), Cardinal Healthcare (NYSE: CAH), Intermune (NASDAQ: ITMN), Biolase (NASDAQ: BLTI) Take-Two Entertainment (NASDAQ: TTWO), King Pharmaceuticals (NYSE: KG), Swift Transportation (NASDAQ: SWFT) and Taser (NASDAQ: TASR).

The senior Byrne told a reporter that he is considering stepping down as chair of Overstock.com, but would remain on as a director. He intimated that he did not want his business disagreements to come between himself and his son on a personal basis.

CEO Byrne, for his part, showed no indication over the weekend of backing away from his very public efforts to bring what he terms miscreants to justice, although much of the press continues to portray his actions as a ?cover? for poor company performance and actions against ?analysts? in general rather than one particular firm and its hedge funds clients and selected ?journalists? that are now themselves under investigation by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

SEC Chair Christopher Cox said the subpoenas for the journalists, James Cramer, founder of TheStreet.com (NASDAQ: TSCM), and host of CNBC?s ?Mad Money,? Herb Greenberg, formerly with TheStreet.com when the activities being investigated are believed to have taken place, but now with MarketWatch, a Dow Jones (NYSE: DJ) unit, and Carol Remond, a reporter for the Dow Jones Newswires, are on ?hold? while the Commission comes up with a new ?policy? over the next two weeks.

A former high-placed staffer at the SEC has told FinancialWire that the SEC has some serious morale problems at the staff level over this incident, but that in the end, ?there is no question but that the subpoenas will prevail.?

A poll conducted at http://www.investrendinformation.com showed that 96% of those voting in the financial community support the SEC enforcement staff over SEC Chair Christopher Cox, and believe that Cox should be ?rebuked? for interfering.

The Depository Trust and Clearing Corp., meanwhile, is part of an investigation by state regulators over its perceived role in naked short selling, specifically what a former board member calls an ?endemic? of fails-to-deliver.

For up-to-the-minute news, features and links click on http://www.financialwire.net

FinancialWire is an independent, proprietary news service of Investrend Information, a division of Investrend Communications, Inc. It is not a press release service and receives no compensation for its news or opinions. Other divisions of Investrend, however, provide shareholder empowerment platforms such as forums, independent research and webcasting. For more information or to receive the FirstAlert daily summary of news, commentary, research reports, webcasts, events and conference calls, click on http://www.investrend.com/contact.asp

For a free annual report on a company mentioned in the news, please click on http://investrend.ar.wilink.com/?level=279

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Re: Weekend Recap By hemingway811 on 3/6/2006 7:15 AM
For those of you who did not access the link I posted, here is where Cramer ranks among other CNBC shows:

The top ranking CNBC show is "Closing Bell" and comes in at # 26. "Power Lunch" is # 29, Morning Call" is # 31, "Street Signs" is # 33, "Deal or no Deal" is # 34, "Kudlow & Company is # 35. "Squawk On The Street 930A" is # 36, Squawk On The Street 9A" is # 38 and "Mad Money is # 39.

FOXN dominates, taking 11 of the top 12 spots. CNN takes 7 of the top 20 spots.

Thanks rtway1 :)
Re: Weekend Recap By TheresASpyInTheHouse on 3/6/2006 8:16 AM
Just started reading the Biovail complaint. It's a great read so far.
But Bob, your summary is off-- $4.6 billion? Biovail is asking for triple damages...
Re: Weekend Recap By bobo on 3/6/2006 8:31 AM
But they have to see whether they get it or not. If no RICO, no treble damages.

I bet the get RICO.
Passwords for boards By HndtoHnd on 3/16/2006 9:54 AM
Passwords for PalTalk rooms

As the room owner of Sterling's Academy on PalTalk.com, I am able to monitor who is attempting to enter the room and which password they are using to do so. I have noticed an increase in people attempting to enter Sterling's Academy with the incorrect password for this room. So I want to set the record straight for anyone seeking to enter one of the fine establishments on PalTalk.com and I want to provide you with the passwords to make your journey easier. I hope to see you all in Sterlings someday soon. Go CMKX!

ROOM NAME AND IT'S PASSWORD

Sterlings Academy = stocks

Willy Wizards Underground = rumble

CMKM Investment Group = ironbob

I believe unity is more important than numbers for the true longs of CMKM Diamonds and I for one would like to see you all enjoy each room available for what it brings to you as opposed to picking a favorite. Each room has great people and each room has the potential to educate and entertain at any given moment! However, the ultimate choice is yours.

Please make a note of these and enjoy your visits!
Re: Weekend Recap By bphaere on 3/5/2006 2:58 PM
** And next week should be equally ugly.**

Borrowing a quote from someone else, "let us prey".
Re: Weekend Recap By eager on 3/5/2006 3:07 PM
Transparency,Transparency,Transparency that is all we ask. It seems like alot of people are crying real bad to keep transparency from happening. The more they cry the more it makes me believe someone or some entity has something to hide.
Where there is smoke there is fire. Isnt it the press that always says this about companies that cry alot. If the shoe fits then they need to wear it. Also I have never seen so much negative press. No one seems to want to ask questions at all about this side of the story. It seems like after REG SHO has been going for one year the press would be all over this asking why some of the same companies are on the list day in and day out. Any one with a GED can see it is a one sided story and no one investigating why companies stay on the list the whole time. Where is the SEC checking this out and watching the trading on these stocks and finding out what the problem is. I listened to whats his name Abelow that used to work at the DTCC saying something about FTD could be caused of being pennies off and stuff. Give me a break that still doesnt answer why companies have been on there so long. I just want fair and transparent markets. No harm in knowing how many FTD are for each company unless there is something to hide. That is as plain as it gets.
Re: Weekend Recap By rtway1 on 3/5/2006 3:08 PM
I would like to see a offensive that we the stockholders can do that can help beat these bastards to a pulp. Keep on supporting Overstock in your purchases. keep calling the SEC, or if anybody has more ideas to turn the knife, lets hear it.
Re: Weekend Recap By roger_fleetwin on 3/5/2006 3:10 PM
Agree, this will be uglier and nastier, and I too hope it gets much worse soon. Let everyting spill out in the open quickly. I fully expect and can hardly wait for the next bag of surprises the cabal have to spring on NovaStar longs. Only this time I don't they they've yet realized the power gathering against them. My compliments to all who are doing a superb job of bring all this out in the open.---roger
Re: Weekend Recap By rtway1 on 3/5/2006 3:11 PM
I would like to see a ratings number on CNBC. I heard they are in the dumpster.
Re: Weekend Recap By InTheKnow on 3/5/2006 3:12 PM
Ask for delivery of you stock!
Re: Weekend Recap By adegracia1950 on 3/5/2006 3:18 PM
It still amazes me that the someone in the main stream media has not grab this ball and run with it. The financial media in my opinion is totally under the control of the market manipulators as demonstrated by the same old rehtoric from the same old bs artists. I use to feel that there would be a few honest financial journalists that would present the fraud side of the issue but the silence is deafening.
As for CNBC being used as a defensive platform to defend the likes of Greenberg and Cramer, their silence on the Naked Shorting issue in the past is damming.
The wonders of video will come back to haunt them when discovery brings out exactly who was involved and to what degree.
I think the recap is a good idea, it provides a nice synopsis of the progress that is being made.
Keep up the good work.

Alan
Re: Weekend Recap By rtway1 on 3/5/2006 3:19 PM
So numero uno on our list should be to ask for our shares, correct?
Re: Weekend Recap By jpc on 3/5/2006 3:21 PM
Bud, make that six years. I would like to see data for call options around the time of the 2000 "crash." Of particular interest would be, say, Qualcom (QCOM), Broadcom (BRCM), Global Crossing (multiple tickers), JDSU. Just how much dollar damage were the big call sellers looking at?
Re: Weekend Recap By rtway1 on 3/5/2006 3:24 PM
What amazes me on CNBC is the female so called journalist. A couple on there are like rabid dogs instead of ladies. I never would have thought in a million years how recklessly they run with their mouths, never once mentioning the issue of illegal shorting. Illegal shorting is now the dirtiest of all words to be uttered on T.V.
Re: Weekend Recap By InTheKnow on 3/5/2006 3:25 PM
If it's good enough for the good Dr. and his father to ask for shares then why not you?
Re: Weekend Recap By InTheKnow on 3/5/2006 3:35 PM
When you listen to all these reporters, including Gasperino who I thought was bucking the trend, you start to realize that they cannot differentiate between a Short Seller and a Naked Short Seller.

The problem is that these TV commentators have other people write the questions they ask. These are pretty faces that go on the air and read and talk, but don't think, don't know and don't care to know!
Re: Weekend Recap By n-tres-ted on 3/5/2006 3:35 PM
Fair and balanced media coverage of this problem is all we're asking. That has been the stock-in-trade of Fox News Channel with respect to political news, which has given them the leading cable channel now. It's important to hear that Murdock is in the wings to buy the WSJ and maybe more of Dow Jones. Amazing how the MSM keeps giving him an opening by engaging in unfair, self-interested reporting of the "facts."
Re: Weekend Recap By InTheKnow on 3/5/2006 3:41 PM
n-tres-ted,

Whay is important to hear that Murdock is waiting in the wings to buy the WSJ? Is this good or bad thing to you?
Re: Weekend Recap By rtway1 on 3/5/2006 3:43 PM
I got my shares from Scottrade, not a lot, but got them pretty quick, but that was 2 mos. ago. If they ever want to torture me, 5 straight hours of Becky Quick from CNBC would do it. I wonder what size broom she rides. When the good DR. reminded her of how lousy there ratings were compared to Fox, I was one happy soul. I made Bloomberg my fiancial channel.
Re: Weekend Recap By hemingway811 on 3/5/2006 3:54 PM
Here is a link to cable show rankings for February 2006:

http://www.mediabistro.com/tvnewser/original/feb06ranker.pdf
Naked Short Loophole?? By kalalau73 on 3/5/2006 3:58 PM
Thoughts on a method of Naked Short Selling -- Possible Loophole?

Suppose xyz inc is "hard to borrow", no shares availabe to borrow . Consider hedge fund #1 (hf1). Holds 50k long shares of xyz inc. hf1 loans these 50k shares to hf2 to legally sell short. After settlemnet of short sale, hf1 sells the 50k shares of xyz that it had loaned. Theoretically, hf2 would now have to borrow another 50k shares or buy in to close its short position. However, there are no shares to borrow, and hf2 is such a good customer of its prime brokerage, that the broker does not enforce the buyin. There are reports by informed observers that this is indeed what happens in this situation. hf2 is now naked short 50k shares.


This can be repeated as long as there is no enforcement of buyins.

This could occur between different brokers of one hedge fund, or even between different accounts of one hedge fund at the same broker. It could be another reason to explain why short traders maintain long positions in the stocks they are net short in.
Re: Weekend Recap By rtway1 on 3/5/2006 4:10 PM
Hemingway, thanks for the site, you made my day. Kudlow even beat out Cramer.They should be giving out free copies of Gary,s book for watching CNBC. Them are some pretty sad numbers, but well deserved for the service they don,t provide. Doesn,t Cramer kind of remind you of Jerry Springer and the guy that sells Oxyclean all rolled up in one.
Re: Weekend Recap By mhelburn on 3/5/2006 4:11 PM
One lawsuit goes forward, a second is filed. The pathway is getting smoother for those who want to stand up and protect their companies and shareholders. There are enough complaints on file, one only needs to get out the copy machine, change the names of the plaintiffs and perhaps the hedge fund,.

The defendants answers are another story. That First Amendment doesn't protect Enterprises from collusion and stock manipulation. As far as the shorts and bashing journalists being a part of enforcement, that's a crock!. Dan Dorfman revisited. Who was that guy from Marketwatch.. Cal Thomas... ?

I am amazed at the rubberstamp spin on the subpoena stories.
Re: Weekend Recap By mhelburn on 3/5/2006 4:15 PM
My apologies Thomas Calandra Very sorry.
Re: Weekend Recap By mhelburn on 3/5/2006 4:21 PM
January 10, 2005
"Buy-Write-Sell"
The SEC brought a settled enforcement action today against former CBS Marketwatch.com columnist and co-founder Thom Calandra for allegedly making over $400,000 through a practice known as "scalping," or, as the SEC put it, "Buy-Write-Sell."

According to the SEC's press release and complaint, Calandra profited by repeatedly "buying shares of thinly-traded, small-cap companies, writing highly favorable newsletter profiles recommending the companies to his newsletter subscribers, and then selling the majority of his shares when the increased demand generated by his favorable columns drove up the stock price." Calandra allegedly scalped over 20 different securities from March to December 2003.

The SEC alleged that Calandra's conduct violated Section 10(b) of the Exchange Act because:

By knowingly encouraging purchases of thinly-traded, small-cap securities with an intent to gain personally, Calandra assumed a duty to his TCR readers to disclose fully his stock ownership and his intent to sell when the market price in those stocks rose. Defendant breached that duty when he repeatedly failed to disclose his intent to sell over 100 times in 23 different securities, from March to December 2003.
Re: Weekend Recap By rtway1 on 3/5/2006 4:28 PM
Whatever happened to Tom Callandra. I know he got bounced by Market Watch, but never heard anymore. Is he still a market guru somewhere else?
Re: Weekend Recap (kalalau73) By Molon Labe on 3/5/2006 4:31 PM
That is the point AWS was making here repeatedly. I think he gave up.

But it is a reasonable explanation and has the Occam's Razor benefit of not having to invoke a giant conspiracy.

That does not mean it makes teh situation legitimate. An FTD is a counterfeit share whether it results from a miscreant naked short selling or as a result of slop in the system.

If it is difficult to borrow shares...then that is valuable economic information that should have its say in the marketplace. Under the current system, this information is lost when FTDs are liberally generated. They do not have to be the result of a conspiracy to have a negative effect on a market.
Re: Weekend Recap By rtway1 on 3/5/2006 4:33 PM
Hey HERBIE I hope YOU are reading this. There might be that Karma thing at Market Watch. They used to plaster Callandras face on everything, and treated him like a person of uncanny timing and market skills.ha-ha

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