Quote from Daal:
I shorted a bit of HAL 17.5 2011 puts. My max loss is just 2% of my netwoth if the stock is worthless by then, I can't refuse cheap money
Quote from ralph00:
CNBC Europe interview w/someone named Philippa Malmgreen. She refuses to follow the CNBC cheerleading routine and it leaves the interviewers nearly speechless. Then they hit her w/the "Well Dick Bove just called Citi a buy" and she has to control herself from just coming out and saying "Dick Bove is a clueless tool who is bought and paid for by the banks he 'covers'." Good stuff.
http://pragcap.com/sovereign-defaults-are-coming
Quote from Ghost of Cutten:
Shorting a put also has an opportunity cost - if HAL falls to <17.5 in a panic over the oil spill and lawsuits/regulation, then your ability to buy at bargain prices will be reduced by the amount of puts you are short. E.g. what if the price collapses to 10, but you already have on a maximum short put position - you can't buy any HAL down there. Whereas if you didn't write the put, you could risk the same 2% of your net worth by going long the stock, with far greater upside than the put position.