Why short-sellers get short shrift
These ‘men without bowels’ are more likely to be the prompt discoverers of bad news than the inventors of it, writes Tim Harford
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Regulating short-selling
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China eases path for short sellers
Beijing creates platform to enable brokerages to borrow stock from institutional investors in a further effort to deepen equity market participation
Short sellers hunt profits in Hong Kong
Machinery makers come into focus as China-focused firms seek to make high returns from groups with accounting weaknesses
UK industrials escape short selling
Some 2 per cent of FTSE 350 industrial shares out on loan despite low expectations of performance at such companies over the past year
EU short selling rules spark confusion
Late and complex guidance leaves markets unprepared ahead of regulations, which impose tough disclosure requirements, coming into effect
Warning on EU short-selling restrictions
Critics say the rules, due to take effect next month, could reduce liquidity in UK small-cap stocks and prevent small companies from raising capital
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Comment and Analysis
EU short-selling ban – plus ça change
The European Union’s new rules on short trading begin this week, but whether market activity will be significantly affected is debatable
Don’t be fooled by short-selling bans
A new paper on their effects from says there is little evidence the US ban halted share price declines, but it hurt market mechanisms as liquidity dried up
FSA short-seller action could turn sour
‘Name and shame’ tactics by regulators maligns traders as evil market participants and has potential to have opposite effect to that intended
Effectiveness of short-selling bans in doubt
Market regulators in Spain and Italy this week re-introduced restrictions lifted less than six months ago after several days of equities turmoil
Short-selling ban was ‘a game-changer’
The short-selling ban was a shock in that it came in overnight, but it also changed investors’ perception of the practice and has had a lasting impact on securities lending
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 | Lex: German short selling ban Vincent Boland analyses the market’s reaction to the German government’s move to ban the naked short-selling of eurozone sovereign debt instruments |
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Government interventions
Governments have tried a dizzying array of measures to fix the financial crisis. Interest rate cuts, loans, buying bad assets and share purchases have been announced in quick succession. This graphic ties these measures together for easy comparison
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