On the SEC and Short Selling

Wall Street Weather submits:"What the SEC Really Did on Short Selling" is the title of an op-ed piece written by SEC Chairman Christopher Cox appearing in yesterday’s Wall Street Journal. Cox explains that last week’s Emergency Order temporarily prohibiting naked short selling of 19 financial stocks (described in "The SEC’s Short Story") was done “in close consultation with the Treasury and the Fed” to apply “to precisely those financial firms that the Fed has designated as eligible for access to its liquidity facilities – and for which the taxpayer could be on the hook.” By that reasoning, all bank stocks should be included on the SEC’s list. During his appearance before the House Financial Services Committee last week, Fed Chairman Bernanke under questioning by Representative McCarthy, said that “all banks can borrow from the Fed’s discount window.”Complete Story »