You are the one who needs to get a clue and get real. What kind of moral compass do you have ? Even infamous short sellers have taken the high road and have chosen not to profit from this tragedy. Shorting is fine under normal circumstances - but profiting from a stock decline due to instability in the market following a terrorist attack is unacceptable in my book. But hey - short to your heart's content - Osama may even have some stock tips for you.
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http://www.msnbc.com/news/629468_asp.htm
Investors urge stock buying spree
Net grassroots move looking for âbillion share move to upsideâ
By Brock N. Meeks
MSNBC
WASHINGTON, Sept. 15 â Stock-related chat rooms and Web sites, long the haunt of dubious stock tipsters and market analysis, have spontaneously turned into enclaves of patriotism in the wake of Tuesdayâs terrorist acts. âNO SELLING MONDAY! SHOW THE WORLD!â blares one such message. âLONG USA!!â intones another. Call it the âPatriot Rally.â
SMALL INVESTORS ARE posting thousands of comments and stuffing e-mail boxes with messages urging everyone to buy and hold at least 100 shares of their favorite company.
âHelp America get back on its feet and memorialize those who died: Buy stock when the market reopens and hold it. If everyone bought just 100 shares we could make Americaâs stock market soar,â says one such message.
âIf every one of us, along with millions of other Americans get in there and buy 100 shares of your favorite stock, we can reach the goal of getting a billion shares on the plus side at the ringing of the closing bell on Monday,â says another with the exhortation: âPass this along to all your friends and family!â
Even some infamous short sellers are saying they will step back from trying to profit from a market that could buckle Monday.
âIâm sure I could make a lot of money if the world panicked,â Anthony Elgindy, the flamboyant principle of Pacific Equity Investigations told the Dow Jones News Service. âBut Iâm not convinced thatâs a business philosophy I want to employ.â
About 35 percent of American investors believe the market will âgo down a lotâ Monday, according to a Harris Interactive Poll of 4,600 adults taken the day after the terrorist strike. However, despite their gloomy outlook for the markets, only 1 percent of those in the survey said they were considering selling.
âMy Grandmother bought war bonds to help my Grandfather when he was fighting the Naziâs, in WWII,â wrote âInforthelongrunâ in a stock touting chat room. âAnd Iâll be buying 100 percent homegrown U$A companies on Monday!â
MARKET FOUNDATION LAID
Whether or not an actual âPatriot Rallyâ takes hold, whether investorsâ resolve to throw cash into a nose-diving market actually materializes, remains to be seen. However, Wall Street and federal regulators have already bent the rules in these extraordinary times to help blunt a market free fall.
The Securities and Exchange Commission announced this week that they are relaxing a rule that regulates how and when companies can repurchase their own shares. By law the SEC is allowed to grant such relief for up to 10 days. The relief waiver came as a result of regulators looking for ways to help the markets stabilize the aftermath of the 1987 stock market crash.
SEC utilizes emergency powers
The SEC said it would set the amount of shares each company can buy, set by a formula that correlates to its average daily trading volume.
Cisco has already announced it plans to use up to $3 billion it has socked way in cash to help keep its share price afloat, if need be.
âInvestors should be assured that U.S. markets will function effectively and fairly, and that market and investor protections are squarely in place,â the SEC said in a statement.
And Saturday the New York Stock Exchange, the Nasdaq Stock Market and the American Stock Exchange jointly announced that tests of their respective market making capabilities proved successful.
âOur systems are all go,â said Richard Grasso, chairman and CEO of the NYSE at a news conference Saturday. Grasso also said that the connectivity among brokerage firms passed with flying colors and all markets were expected to kick into trading gear at 9:30 a.m. EST on Monday.
IN THE TRENCHES WITH HISTORY
History is a powerful predictor. And it is the history of markets in uncertain, even climatic times that should calm investorsâ nerves, according to the 114-year old trading house of A.G. Edwards.
âOur nation has classically rallied around the flag when tragedy hits,â A.G. Edwards said in a detailed research note to investors Thursday. âWe look for the same to occurâ in the aftermath of recent terrorist acts, the note says.
In 1993, when a bomb crumbled the basement of the World Trade Center, the Dow Jones Industrial Average slumped a mere 0.59 percent on the first day of trading, the note says. The Dow experienced a bull run that lasted several weeks and a 13.7 percent return over the next 12 months.
However, the St. Louis-based firm does caution that a shaken consumer confidence level will be a âmajor setbackâ to a market already slouching toward recession. In having to factor that flagging confidence into its market outlook, the firm said it would be revising downwards its projections for the third and fourth quarters of this year. The extent of that downgrade will depend on information the firm expects to gather next week.
âWe believe investors in a few days will start to think with a cool head and realize that the long-term outlook for our nation has not been made less positive by a terrorist attack,â the A.G. Edwards note says.