Don, I think you underestimate the effect that short selling (selling someone elses property..sometimes without their knowledge or approval) can have on asset values.
If you owned 100% of a companies shares (say 1,000,000) and made the mistake of leaving the shares in street name with your favorite brokerage, you might be surprised to find shares trading the next day below what you paid. After all you own all the shares. How can the price be going down? Is there a counterfeiter out there? So you keep buying. Trouble is, the more you buy.. the more shares seem to be coming on the market. How is it possible that you now own 2,000,000 shares in a company that only has 1,000,000 shares outstanding? And the price is still going down? Well you get the idea.
I'm not against short selling, but make no mistake...their effect can be very negative. The fact that sometime in the future they have to buy back in is both true and of little comfort. As such besides selling something that they don't own and creating a supply that wouldn't normally exist they also have a vested interest in seeing a share price that runs counter to a companies, shareholders and employees best interests. They are therefore the source of many rumors, innuendoes and false stories.
Let the squeeze of "98" begin, Dave |
