This, more than anything I've ever seen, tells you the winds have irrevocably shifted. Maybe we've saved the cellar. Just maybe. Oh, arrests? Top Wall St. guys. Top Hedgefund managers. Regulators. And maybe, just maybe, somepoliticians. And it cannot come soon enough.
http://www.hedgeworld.com/news/read_news_printable.cgi?section=legl&story=legl2260.html
Hedge Funds Pleaded With SEC to Let Short Ban Expire
By Reuters
Thursday, October 02, 2008 2:47:12 PM ET
WASHINGTON (Reuters)âLobbyists for the $2 trillion hedge fund industry made an unsuccessful last ditch effort on Wednesday [Oct. 1] to convince U.S. securities regulators to let an emergency order prohibiting short selling in more than 950 financial firms expire on Thursday [Oct. 2].
"The orders have not prevented price declines of financial institutions, volatility in the securities of these firms, or the failure of a financial institution," said Richard Baker, president of hedge fund lobby group Managed Funds Association.
Mr. Baker said the emergency orders have increased volatility, reduced liquidity and abruptly halted capital-raising, including through the issuance of convertible securities.
But the Securities and Exchange Commission voted to extend the ban beyond Thursday to give a government bailout of the financial sector time to work. The new short sale ban expires three days after final passage of any bailout legislation, or no later than Oct. 17. Under the SEC emergency measures, short selling in the U.S.-listed financial firms stocks has been prohibited for about two weeks.
Big money managers have also been required to disclose their short positions in other companies to the SEC. Those positions were submitted to the SEC on Monday [Sept. 29] and will be made public on Oct. 13. The Managed Funds Association is urging the SEC to amend that rule so the short positions are kept secret.
The SEC's measures were implemented to help restore equilibrium to markets rocked by bank failures and fears of economic uncertainty. But since the rules went into effect on Sept. 19, markets have swung wildly on hopes for a $700 billion government bailout package for the U.S. financial system.
The measures underpinned concerns from regulators around the world that short selling, in which an investor sells borrowed stock in the anticipation the price will fall, has exacerbated the decline in financial stocks.
Regulators in the United Kingdom, Australia and Canada have imposed similar bans.
The MFA's pleas weren't enough to persuade SEC commissioners; the commission voted to extend the short selling ban, which along with the disclosure rules were set to expire at 11:59 p.m. EDT on Thursday.
By Rachelle Younglai
Rachelle.Younglai@ThomsonReuters.com